I Wish...

I wish you knew "church" like I know church.

I wish you didn't think about the funeral scene in the first season of House of Cards where the minister turns the service over to the politician and the choir is "gospelly," and every seat in the house is filled, shoulder to shoulder, with blacks and whites sitting together there in the heart of Georgia.

We're not that good.

I wish you didn't think about the TV pastors who show up after tragedy and offer platitudes to whoever for whatever.

We're not that bad.

I wish you didn't think about the mega church pastors who promise health, wealth, or special heaven status while taking your money and flying in personal jets and living in mansions.

We're not those people.

We're just people here at my church. All kinds. All places in our faith development. All abilities. All shapes and sizes and genders and political stripes. And I wish you would see this little miracle we call community that calls together such diverse folks. We work hard to stay connected. It's not easy.

I wish so many things.

I wish we were better at telling you why faith is so important to us.

I wish you were better at hearing us without assuming we are who we are not.

I wish you knew the brokenness that comes through the doors on a Sunday. I wish you knew the fear. I wish you could see the ache that emanates from hearts that have lost husbands or wives, parents or children to death. I wish you could shake hands with the woman who insists everything is fine when you know it is not.

I wish you knew the joy that comes from knowing you have "peeps" who would do anything for you, anytime, anywhere. They can't solve your problems...they know that and so do you...but they will stand beside you, sit with you, hold your hand and never let go.

Until you need them to let go...then they will. But they are there. And they will celebrate as you become the hand holder, praying and holding you in their hearts instead.

I wish you knew the unceasing work and prayer and thought that happens as people seek to do good in the world. I wish you knew how important it was to so many that all people be included and supported, and have the opportunity to be healthy and thrive.

I wish you understood that as one restaurant doesn't make every restaurant bad, one church doesn't make every church bad.

I wish I knew how to meet you and have a conversation with you about the world I want to live in. I wish I could help you understand that the foundation of that world view is our worth coming from God's love for us...and our call being to love others (working for their welfare over our own) as we have been loved by God. This makes us equal in God's sight, each worthy of the other, each deserving because of who God is, not who we are.

I wish we could be a lot more connected, know what to do with our anger, work together instead of fighting each other to change the world.

I wish...

Easter Evangelism

Back to the thoughts on sharing the good news of the gospel. Cough, cough, ahem....

Great sermon here by Brian Blount, president of Union Presbyterian Seminary. One of his points is that the players in the Revelation text had seen "the end." They knew our hope. They refused to live in the lie that evil is in charge, that bad people will win in the end. Because of that, their "witness" to the reality makes a difference in their here and now.

Evangelism is not about going to heaven after this life. It is about living this life in a way that brings heaven to our here and now. That means living in community that puts the other's good ahead of our own, that works for shalom, the health and wholeness of all people.

I hear so many say "it's not about church." And it's not. I hear "Don't go to church, be the church." and we should. My question is, "How do I do that without community, without people who explore with me what "being the church" means, without people to hold me accountable? This definition of Christian community is a far cry from show up at church to be "filled" for the next week or comforted or to pretend everything is fine and then return home to our broken lives and struggle for another week.

The understanding of "church" that we have is far from the understanding of community that Jesus had. It is far from "early church." In some ways, it should be. We are different people than first century Christians. We live differently, we face different "evils."

So why "church?" One reason (and there are more than one) is we can't do this alone. God works. We work with God. But how do we live differently if we simply live solitary, "private" lives? How do we live as disciples, stay on track, stay focused on God if we are trying to do everything ourselves?

It's called the "body" for a reason. We don't function well alone.

We won't function well if we are not living in community with Jesus as the head of our body, if we are simply meeting our own needs of the needs of the institution, if we are not living in a way that shows the world that we have seen a different way, a better way.

We won't be sharing the "good news" if we are simply living the same way the culture does inside a place called "church."

We have work to do...