Even though I spent 17 of the last 20 years in formal theological education, almost all of it happened while I was engaged with a specific congregation as the preaching minister. While doing my M.Div., I ministered with the Munday Church of Christ for five years. Making time with cotton farmers and John Deere mechanics forced me to keep my feet on the ground and off the top floor of an ivory tower. And while my education made me more critical than I should have been, I have discovered something in the last few years: The value of seeing church in a new old way.
Speaking of new old things.
First John 2:7-10--"Dear friends, I am not writing you a new command but an old one, which you have had since the beginning. This old command is the message you have heard. Yet I am writing you a new command; its truth is seen in him and in you, because the darkness is passing and the true light is already shining. Those who claim to be in the light but hate a fellow believer are still in the darkness. Those who love their fellow believers live in the light, and there is nothing in them to make them stumble."
Our church is spending the summer in John's writings while looking for signs of God's presence in our everyday lives. I think I saw a sign of God's presence yesterday. But it was more ordinary than I anticipated.
I'll come back to that in a minute.
Although it might sound a little too Zen for some people's tastes, it is good to see some churches beginning to embrace simplicity. For every megachurch that remodels an abandoned Wal-Mart, smaller groups of Christians are popping up all over the place who want to engage both the gifts and the works of the gospel in ways that heal broken minds. Church, from the beginning, was/is supposed to be a place where people can come and hear the good news that they are valued by God, and cherished by fellow believers. That's it.
That's it.
For every meeting, program launch, or budget item a church takes on, we should devote double that time/effort/expense to sharing the good news that invites people deeply into Christian community. Real community. The kind of community that misses you when you are not there. If you are a member of a small congregation and someone says they missed you, it's because they really missed you.
Who would have thought that the gospel was as easy to articulate as this: "I rejoice that today you and I get to share in God's life-changing, redeeming love."
Yesterday I saw a sign of God's presence. I had lunch with the Lide's. Judy is one of our shepherds at Bering. She and Rod were out last weekend for the holiday. I told both of them, "I really missed you last weekend." They said, "We missed you, too."
And there was God's presence.
Don Newton, another member at Bering, said something similar last Sunday after being out the Sunday before. He said, "I was at a church of 6000 people last Sunday, but I missed you." I replied, "I knew you were not here, and I really missed you."
And there was God's presence.
