What is a Hippie?

I found some thoughts that I think help answer that age old question at Hippies from A to Z by Skip Stone - The Way of the Hippy.

There are a lot of things that are associated with Hippies, things that we do, words that we say, foods that we eat, the style of clothes that we wear, etc, etc, etc... But Skip writes that "by focusing on the most visible behavioral traits these limited descriptions fail to reveal what lies in the hippie heart that motivates such behavior."

I think that all the "things" that we do that define us as "Hippies" have a common root that parallels Jesus' teachings. There must be a spiritual basis for our lifestyle, we should be careful to weigh our actions with the Word. Here are a few "Hippie" traits and their parallel in the Word:

Love = God is Love

Peace = Jesus is the Prince of Peace

Activism = Justice (God is a just God)

Love of Nature = Creation care (Tend the Garden)

Creativity (art, clothing, jewelry, etc) = Creative Father (We are made in His image)

Simple Lifestyle = Seek Ye First the Kingdom of God

etc, etc, etc......
_________________
Peace, Love, and Light through Jesus the Christ!

Kevin (Cloud)

P.S. My Hippie name "Cloud" was given to me back in the early 1970's by a Brother in the Lord who described me as a "Long Hair Hippie Jesus Freak". He called me Cloud because every where he went he would run into me, at the store, the bank, on the street. I seemed to be always following him about like a little black rain cloud, so that became my name - Cloud.

How I Ended Up In A House Church

Ok.... Perhaps I should give everyone a little history of how I ended up in a House Church.

I won't go on about any of the negative experiences that I am sure are universal to us all. It wasn't those experiences that led to the change anyway, they just were the catalyst for change that the Holy Spirit was calling for in my heart.

Let me retrace some of my steps on this path to House Church. I was found by Jesus in a little United Brethren In Christ Church in the San Fernando Valley at the start of the Jesus Movement back in 1969. The pastor was a wonderful grandfatherly man who was an old revival style Billy Graham type of preacher. He loved Jesus and he loved us long hair hippie kids. He took that same stand that Chuck Smith took - the kids stay! The pews, the carpet and anyone who does not like them can go!

Next step... the Coffee House. In addition to regular church attendance (3x a week) there was a Christian Coffee house inspired by Arthur Blessitt that was my favorite place to go. It was there that I learned about evangelism and every believer being a member of the Priesthood. It was there that I learned that church is not always inside the church. I even went on to start a coffee house that was open for about three years, we did lots of outreach from there.

Fast forward a couple of decades... My wife and I start attending a local fellowship that was promoting Home Groups, never really committed to the Home Group before but at the time we needed the closer fellowship. Over the next seven years we experienced the power of the small group setting. We helped with the Alpha Course and loved the developing community that we had with our mid-week group.

We were developing real relationships with a core group of about twelve brothers and sisters, then it happened, the change occurred. The pastor of the main church wanted to make some changes to the way the Home Group was structured. He dissolved all the small groups into one. Now the group dynamics changed, we were now fifty strangers with only brief greetings. No depth, no chance for real heart to heart fellowship, only a casual "hello" over cookies and coffee. My wife quit going almost entirely but I decided to hang in there and not bail out until I was sure that was what the Father wanted me to do.

I had shared on several occasions with the group and with individuals the concept that the small Home Group is the Church. I could have of been speaking a foreign language and got the same reaction, they all looked at me as if I stepped off an alien spaceship that just arrived from Mars!

I have to interject here that at this time the main church was embracing the whole "Toronto" thing and because of that I decided to make the mid-week Home Group my main place of fellowship. But it was the stark contrast between the old group and the re-formed group that caused me to seek out more information on House Church. I had known of the House Church Movement through my internet searches for links to add to my website, but was leery of them until I found a local House Church Network.

The big step... after several meetings with the folks involved with the local House Churches, a few visits to some House Churches, and a regional House Church Conference we made the leap. Our minds and our hearts had been slowly unplugging from the institutional church for a few years now and after giving the Home Group (now called a Community Group) one more year to see what would happen we called it quits with much prayer and heart searching. I met with some brothers from the old Home Group before making the change to seek out their advice and to share my enthusiasm which met with mixed reactions. Back in January of this year I composed a letter to the pastor explaining that I felt that the Lord was calling us to get involved with the local House Church Movement. I thanked him for all the years of great teaching and ministry that he labored in. I enclosed the church key that I had for several years because of being part of the Food Ministry. Although I told him that they will always be family to us, and explained that he should feel free to contact me at any time we have never been contacted by anyone about our departure.

Now baby steps... We have been part of a small House Church now since we left the institutional church seven month ago. It is a new group that is still feeling its way through developing relationships, learning to trust and to lean on one another more. We are a very diverse group.. a young couple with four kids from a Baptist & Friends (Quaker) background, a family that has teens that came out of a very legalistic denomination, an other couple with one teen at home that still is part of a Foursquare fellowship, and my wife and I the empty nesters that had a Calvary - Vineyard background. There are several others that gather with us from time to time and most of the group gathers together on another day too. The guys try to meet for coffee at some time during the week and encourage each-other. We also keep in touch via e-mail and cell phone often.



I am second from left and that is my bride of 29 years with the pig-tails to the right. (We both turn 49 this month)
We absolutely would have never gotten together with these folks unless it was a God thing.
(Oh, hippies can wear Hawaiian Shirts, right?)

Well, that is it in a nutshell if any one cares.
_________________
Peace, Love, and Light through Jesus the Christ!

Kevin (Cloud)

Jesus Gatherings

This last week I attended a conference about House Churches. This was not my first encounter with the "Movement", in fact every week my wife and I gather together with three other families for a "Church" that meets in a home. We have not been a part of a traditional Church for almost two years now but I still found my self asking the question "What is Church?".

Church is a funny word, it can bring so many images to mind and not everyone sees the same picture. Is it the building where followers of Jesus meet? Is it the people who gather in the building? Is it the religious organization that owns the building where the people gather? Or, could it just be the people who follow Jesus where ever and when ever they are gathered together?

The difficulty for me is that I have the picture of the Church in America stuck in my head because I see it everywhere I go. When I read about the early followers of Jesus and how they gathered I see a sharp contrast between the two. The one thing that I feel could have been stressed more at this conference was how simple Church can be. Jesus made Church so simple - "For where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there in the midst of them" (Matthew 18:20). There it is, that is it, so simple and yet we make it so much more difficult. We want to control it, track it's progress, chart it's growth, raise funds, expand it, and contain it all in a corporate structure.

Jesus said that *He* would build His Church, the first century church taught that God does not dwell in a building made by human hands but that he was assembling a place for his habitation made out of "living stones" - those who love him, the people who follow Jesus. I am looking for the Church that has God's fingerprints on it, and if I see anything that looks like man's fingerprints on it I just keep moving on. The Church can be found any time Jesus' followers gather, in any place they find Brothers and Sisters to share their common faith and love.

Peace, Love, and Light through Jesus the Christ!
Kevin (Cloud)

Earth Day Spiritual Discussion

Saturday was the local Earth Day Celebration. Every year ECOSLO hosts an environmental fair on the Saturday closest to Earth Day and as usual it draws folks with a concern for "Mother Earth".

As one would expect many of those folks have a perspective on life that could be called "alternative" or "New Age". A broad spectrum of spirituality was represented and my goal in attending this year's event was to find someone open to discuss issues of faith.

I walked around the fair checking out the vibe and hoping to find a place to sit down while I waited for the Holy Spirit to lead me to someone. My eyes fell upon a hand lettered sign which read "Spiritual Discussion" - Ok, it is one thing to ask the Father for a sign, it is another thing for him to take me literally!

Gathered in a circle on blankets and tie-dye was as diverse a group of eleven people as one could imagine. It would be hard to label those in the group and I am sure they wouldn't appreciate it too much either. I sat down as the twelfth member just before the discussion was to begin. We had just enough time for some warm and friendly greetings.

Some ground rules for the discussion were laid out and what followed for the next hour or so was the most incredible forum of opinions and ideas about spirituality and religion that I have ever been involved with. Though I heard thoughts expressed that many could agree with and some that could have started very strong arguments there remained a constant level of respect for one another and their views.

This type of forum is a great place to develop dialogue with others that one would other wise not have the opportunity to encounter. I am looking forward to future forums with these wonderful and very spiritual folks. Perhaps some long term friendships will develop and hopefully a deeper understanding of who Jesus is apart from the rhetoric and hype that so many have been exposed to which clouds the truth about Him.

Peace, Love, and Light through Jesus the Christ!
Kevin (Cloud)

Hippie Christian Blog is Born