Jesus was praying for his friends and said this, "I am coming to you now, but I say these things while I am still in the world, so that they may have the full measure of my joy within them."

That seems to be the thing we want most, isn't it? Joy.

Joy is so appealing because it isn't dictated by circumstance.

Joy that shifts with external happenings is no more helpful to the betterment of our lives than a piece of cheap candy is for satiety. We want something real. Something that satisfies for good.

Friends from our Sunday night gathering here in Sweden this past weekend 👆

So if Jesus promised unbreakable joy and water that quenches thirst once and for all, then why do so few who claim to follow him seem to experience it?

When we're inviting people into the heritage and story of God, we're not only inviting them into heaven, later. More immediately, we're inviting them into a Kingdom reality, now.

One more from Sunday 👆

It's not an invitation into a waiting as much as it's an invitation to participate in God's current narrative.

It's not an invitation into the theoretical and religious as much as it's an invitation for God into the tactile reality of our every day lives.

Joy doesn't live only on the mountaintops. It certainly doesn't turn tail when dark clouds interrupt the party.

Joy just is.

This is what we get to be a part of and this is the invitation we are to give because this is the invitation that Jesus gave.

Our newest gathering in Sweden. Grapple Chapel. 😍

"Repent..." (change your mind)

"...for the Kingdom of heaven..." (the rule and reign of God)

"...has come near." (is here)

-  Jesus

A proper viking baptism after our very first Grapple Chapel. An ice cold lake and absolute darkness by dinner time. 🥳

Welcome to the party, my friends.