A small but real affirmation...

I spent most of the first part of today listening carefully and answering deep questions about "why Christianity rings true" for 21st century people.  Three very bright, creative and compassionate adults wanted/needed to spend time asking questions about being a part of the church.  "I resonate with the values and ministry of Jesus... but so much of the rest of the church.. ugh!  I can't take it."

I get that.  Sometimes I've prayed, "Jesus, please protect me from your followers."  Hell, sometimes I've been one of those bad Christians who happen upon good people.  And still I am a part of the body of Christ.  In fact, this Sunday's community worship is all about different people in our church speaking about how they discern God and serve the Lord through some of our ministries (e.g. Sunday School, worship and the arts, mission, justice, etc.)  It will be a beautiful time of honest worship designed by our worship team ~ and most of the music will be written by members, too.

So today felt like a small but very real affirmation re: the way we DO church.  We are NOT a one size fits all congregation.  We are about faith formation not obedience.  We celebrate the questions as much as the answers - even when the questions leave us uncomfortable.  And in this era when so much of the Church has been reduced to either fundamentalism, entertainment or a gospel of prosperity, we affirmed how important it is to hang in there with people so that we all might embrace the life, death and resurrection of Jesus.  Not just one part of that paradox - say the teachings of Jesus without the Cross - or his sacrificial death with the reality of new life:  the whole enchilada.

And the timing of this affirmation is important:  late last week I got an invitation from one of the other pastors in town who wants to have a "consolidation" conversation with 4-5 of the other struggling churches in town.  "We can't continue to sustain our buildings and congregations for another generation," he wrote.  Already the Roman Catholics have closed 5 in Pittsfield alone and 22 in the county.  And he may be right - we can't continue to sustain the status quo - but I don't think the Spirit of Christ is about sustaining anything - especially the status quo.

I sense we have been called to ripen as the Body of Christ - to live and serve one another as part of a faith community - not a club of nice people.  So, while I'm going to the consolidation meeting, I also have a sense that renewal and rebirth are in the air, too.

All around us we observe a pregnant creation. The difficult times of pain throughout the world are simply birth pangs. But it's not only around us; it's within us. The Spirit of God is arousing us within. We're also feeling the birth pangs. These sterile and barren bodies of ours are yearning for full deliverance. That is why waiting does not diminish us, any more than waiting diminishes a pregnant mother. We are enlarged in the waiting. We, of course, don't see what is enlarging us. But the longer we wait, the larger we become, and the more joyful our expectancy.

Meanwhile, the moment we get tired in the waiting, God's Spirit is right alongside helping us along. If we don't know how or what to pray, it doesn't matter. He does our praying in and for us, making prayer out of our wordless sighs, our aching groans. He knows us far better than we know ourselves, knows our pregnant condition, and keeps us present before God. That's why we can be so sure that every detail in our lives of love for God is worked into something good.