Where Could I Go But To The Lord

The formation of a body of believers is not a Congregation. It is a Community. Congregation is something that requires membership, not belief or faith. A Community of believers is invigorated by a common belief, faith or desire to be one in unison for a common purpose.  In our case at The OTC, it is to be in unison in our belief in Christ. It is through Christ, that we will flourish, grow, and spread the good news doing the calling of Christ` teachings.

To get to this place we need to change our conception of who a member, or what our congregation is. If someone is standing at the door of our church wanting to participate in worship, do we let them in? Of course we do. If they want to volunteer in our small groups or a ministry do we allow them to participate ? Of course we do. When the children plant seeds in our Community Garden do we expect someone will water them? Of course we do. Do we expect that someone will nurture and teach our children about those seeds and plants? Of course we do. Then my question is,  how come we have church “Members” that do not know each other. How can we apply this principle with our children but not each other ?

Where does this come from? How is it that we can be so attentive to some, but not all? Could it be from the walls and barriers that are ingrained in us by society? Which we then bring with us at the Lord`s Table as well? My belief is that it runs a little deeper than that. Complacency and comfort. There it has been said. There is an old saying about the work within churches, that 90% do 10% of the work, while 10% do 90% of the work. Why is that?

In Luke 18:27 Jesus says “ What is impossible with men is possible with God” . This is where our focus needs to be in order to break these walls and barriers down. Remember that we all have gifts, and not all gifts are the same. In the same way, the foot knows the hand, and it knows the head, and all the other parts of the body. The body of a believing Community needs to know each other. It cannot be complacent only knowing, being on the journey with, only a comfortable select few.

While the comfort of being close within a small group has it`s rewards and benefits. Who does it help when it is restricted to only those who wish to not grow beyond it?

When the seeds are planted and nourished yet never move beyond that place of comfort and drift into the realm of complacency. Christ tells us to leave our staff, and knapsack, and go with him on this journey. The safety of doing this in numbers is there, but alone traveling, meeting new believers of faith, and matching the trails of the journey, and the patchwork it creates is the walk of Christ. 

I want to know the story of some of our elder believers. What there childhood was like.I want to speak with our friends from Liberia, dig deeper into all of our cultures that make the OTC such a moving and inspirational wealth of humanity. To do so I cannot be complacent and comfortable. As Jesus said we must be like children in order to really see and experience the Kingdom. Let us move and play together in a spirit of Christ that matches our beliefs and prayers for the real Community that Christ talks about.

The complacency and comfort brought to the forefront has been mentioned , so where do we go from here? We go to Christ? We go to the Lord for direction and a pathway. The pathway of selflessness ,and fellowship. The pathway of seeing with new eyes, listening with new ears, and walking with a new spring in our step; with and outstretched hand, and a smile. Where could I go but to the Lord ?

EOJ

8/2/2012