All hyped up

Guess I still have some symptoms of hypomania, though not very bad (I don't think).

I've been reading a lot and getting all excited about what I'm reading. Wanting to talk about it. Wanting to write about it. Not being able to let it go.

I just finished This Beautiful Mess by Rick McKinley, pastor of Imago Dei Community Church in Portland. It's about practising the presence of the Kingdom of God.

McKinley aligns himself with the emerging church movement, which suggests that a revolution is needed in the Christian church. Too many have forgotten that Jesus was a radical, not happy with the status quo. The way the world is today is no better - and probably worse - than it was in Jesus' time. If we're to be followers of Christ we need to be radical, as he was, not satisfied with leaving the world as it is. We need to work to fight injustice and poverty. We need to love others, remembering how God loves us. Jesus befriended the marginalized and healed them. He accepted sinners and ate with them. He did not stigmatize anyone. This is the Jesus in whose footsteps we're called to follow.

I don't know what I should do to calm down. To stop thinking so much about all this. To stop wanting to dig into books - deeper and deeper. I feel so hungry to learn. So hungry to understand what the Kingdom of God that Jesus talked about is. He said the Kingdom of God is upon us. It's not just tomorrow after we die. It's around us now, if we could only recognize it. We can practise the Kingdom of God by doing what Jesus did.

I know one thing: Living Room is one way in which we can practise the Kingdom of God. And I know that God is there at the meetings. It's God's work, and I rely fully on him to make it what it is. That explains the holy joy I feel afterwards.

I was going to write an essay on all this. However, perhaps one way I could calm down and let this all go a bit is by not doing that after all. Perhaps I'll spend my time instead creating invitations for my book launch coming up on July 12th. It's time to change gears.