Hurting People

The church is Christ's bride.  The church is supposed to be the manifestation of the grace of God in this life.  I love the church, although flawed and often extremely messy, I love it.  Today was a hard day.  I was once again reminded of all the hurt in the world.  I was reminded that hurting children grow to become hurting teens who grow to become hurting adults.  I once again began thinking about the importance of loving those inside and outside of the church.  I was glad for the time that I did take for real conversations in the life of a child.  I was saddened that sometimes pain is so deep and so overwhelming that I feel as though we can not overcome it.  I longed for God to come back, as His glorious, warrior/kingly self and destroy the evil in the world.  For this is the only answer to some people's pain - the return of Christ and His amazing power in their lives.  In some ways that is the only answer to all of our pain.  The next life, for we were not created to live in this fallen world.  Until then, my prayer tonight is that God's Church, the manifestation of His grace would be just that tonight and continue to point people towards God's amazing power for life-transformation.

The Revelation

Today I was driving home from the OC.  I got to thinking about all of the pain and sorrow in our world.  I was listening to my music and being amazed at the great hills covered in wild mustard, which make them look neon yellow.  I was just thinking for some reason about how great it would be for Christ to come at that moment.  I began longing for the Revelation Christ.  The tattooed, sword yielding, horse riding Christ who would come and rid the world of this darkness called sin.  The darkness of death, the darkness of pain and sorrow.  I longed for the Christ to come.  For God to be with us yet again, but not as a donkey riding humble servant, but as the ruler of the world.  The conquerer of this darkness.  The verse came to mind, "The fear of God is the beginning of wisdom."  I fear that Christ.  I am in awe of him, with the trumpets and the bowls and the scrolls.  I want to be ready for that Jesus.  

Why Church?

Why do you go to church? When you wake up on a Sunday morning and make that decision to get ready, get in your car, and go to church, what motivates you to do that?

This is the question I have been pondering. I think that one of the saddest things about the modern church is that we have reduced it to showing up on Sunday morning, singing some worship songs, shaking a few strangers hands, and then listening to a sermon. Then many believers leave for the week, feeling as though somehow they have accomplished their biggest "Christian duty" for the week.

I do believe that the Sunday morning experience is an important if not strategic part of a believer's spiritual life, but it is not by any means the end all of "church." There is just something in my gut that twists a bit when I hear about believers go to a church service because they feel as though they need to. I just had a friend who is in between churchs. A hard place to be (I know). They went to a church last week that they knew they did not want to attend. Mainly because they had been there before, they knew how to get in and out and it accomplished the task of "going to church." I just thought it was kind of silly, admirable, but silly.

I began wondering how Paul would have thought about the church. I think he would have defined it as a group of people who gathered for worship, teaching and prayer BUT that also lived within community. I think that it is that last part that we so easily give up on in today's church. We don't push into our churches, we expect them to cater to our needs. We don't reach out and serve readily, then we wonder why we feel disconnected and our not growing spiritually.

I recently "jumped in" at my new church - Life Church. I may live to regret that. No church is perfect. I decided though that I had a decision to make. I could either jump in now, or wait around for what? You can't learn most things about a church from its sidelines. So I jumped.

Anyway, all that to say, think about it this weekend - why are you waking up to go to church? Is it a part of your holistic spiritual diet, or is it your only meal the whole week through? How can we influence those around us to view church in the holistic, communal way?

Too tired to obey

Yesturday I got to hang out with a great family. One of those families that I like to hang out with because in the event that I would ever have one of my own, I would like to be like. We had been to a soccer game for the older brother, and then to the pizza party. By the end of the pizza party, little brother who was two and half was tired. I was trying to wrangle him out of the chaos of arcade games and children, when he wanted back down, I put him down for two steps, and realizing this wasn't working, was about to pick him up when his mom said something very powerful.
"Just pick him up, he is too tired to obey."
There was no condemnation in her voice, no exasperation. No frustration or disapointment. I have seen many parents either give up on their children at this point and become frustrated, or not be understanding of why they can't obey and still expect them to be able to. Instead, I followed her instructions and swooped him back up and carried him the rest of the way to the car, he soon realized the battle was lost and his head was bobbing around near my shoulder, it seemed even the weight of his head was too much for him at that point. What he needed was a rest, a time away from the bright sun and chasing the ball at the soccer field. A time away from the frenzied chaos of the pizza place. He needed the quiet of his room to sleep. It wasn't a matter of being a bad kid or a good kid. (he is a great kid) He just needed rest and in the meantime he needed to be kept from the temptation to not obey.
"Just pick him up, he is too tired to obey."
I think that there is truth in that statement for each of our lives. I have been thinking about this for a while, and her statement made me think about it more today. I think that so many times I look around at the Christian world and see plenty of people who have spent way too much time out in the sun, out in the spotlight of the high profile pastor's life. They spend time running around in the chaos of the Christian life of church drama and never ending felt needs, never stopping to look for the peaceful, quietness of nap time. Then, we as a Christian community wonder why they stumble, wonder why they fall. We are disapointed, frustrated, we condemn and point fingers. No one say's, "who could have picked them up?" "Were we expecting too much?" "How can we provide rest now?" No wonder why so many of our fellow ministers struggle with depression, anxiety, private and public sin. I wonder how many times God has tried to whisper that very thing into the hearts of men and women. "Let me carry you, you are too tired to obey." I know that there is a place for personal responsibility and repentance on the part of every sinner. Yet, I would like to challenge our thinking a bit. I pray that as a Church on the universal and local level we can get better at caring for our leaders. I want to be a part of this change. I am not sure exactly what it looks like, I don't think it is an exact formula, but I want to be a part.