Operation Rhizome aka Rootstalks



The Lord put on my mind a thought, two weeks ago when I was at a birthday party for a nonagenarian, the word, “Rhizome”. I knew it had something to do with roots, what with the root, “rhiz-“, meaning… well, root. I looked up the word in the dictionary.

rhizome - noun, Botany
1.a rootlike subterranean stem, commonly horizontal in position, that usually produces roots below and sends up shoots progressively from the upper surface.”

At first I my flesh kicked in and I thought it could be a great veiled pejorative, like calling someone a rhizome would be to call them a subterranean weed. After I reminded myself that calling someone a fool puts you in danger of “the hellfire”, I thought of how I’ve considered myself an ambassador to the institutional “church”, knowing that I’ve felt like an oddball for some time. Then it hit me. The discipleship that we are embracing, that of Jesus - preach the gospel and heal the sick, can become like a rhizome to the other zombies trapped in the "Building / Institution, Formerly the Church Organization” (henceforth BIFCO). If God can use us to disciple people from many of these BIFCO’s, then it would be like a rhizome. Roots growing underground to spring up in many other BIFCO’s. Another name for a rhizome is “Rootstalks”. I have registered two domain names for the purpose of growing new disciples in BIFCO’s: Rhizome.life and RootStalks.org .  Not that I would have any greater contribution to this process than that of “the soil” (think of the parable of the soils -  the gospel is the seed, WE are the dirt). It is Jesus who builds HIS Church. BTW, the oldest organism on earth, and maybe the largest, is thought to be a grove of Aspens known as Pando. I encourage you to look it up.

More to come...