We are the Church (2)

When I first began teaching, there were times I would look around at assemblies or other school community gatherings and think to myself, "How did I get lucky enough to become a part of this?"  There was such a strong emotional resonance of pride in our students, in the institution, and in the family that was created by people coming together despite differences.

That same sense of pride wells up with other groups I find myself a part of but none come close to the emotions I have around the universal body of Christ and it's expression in my local church, City Harvest.  We are not perfect, but we ARE family.

After I had taught for some years and in a number of schools, I can remember being in a school, and looking around and NOT having that feeling of pride.  It might have been that everything was too easy there, it might have been the problems the district leadership were having, it might have been the lack of connection among staff.  I'm not sure, but I know the lack of pride and community made it easy to leave when the year was up.

There was a season in my life too, when I was deeply disillusioned with the church.  As a youngster, I had watched my childhood church vote a pastor out.  Having a close friend whose relatives were in leadership, I knew a lot of the inside story and how little cause there was. Then as an adult, for a season I was in a church where I saw more of the leader's weaknesses than I had the maturity to handle.  I came to my current church wary of church leadership, and attended church at all, only out of a sense of obedience to scripture which admonishes us, "Not to forsake the assembly."

The hard cold facts are that everyone gets hurt in church.  If you come to my church, you will get hurt.  But guess what?  If you go anywhere long enough, you will get hurt.  Any place where people gather, has the same common denominator of pain as every other place:  US. 

Relationships hurt.  But in the end:  WE ARE FAMILY.

What I've come to know is that the good one encounters in a true church that lives out the Gospel far outweighs the momentary hurts that arise out of community life.

I've experienced people passionately interested in who I am as a person.  I've experienced people showing up to feed me when I couldn't even get downstairs on my own to pop something in the microwave.  I've experienced people coming alongside me when I've been in a season of hurting, again and again and again, even when the pain seemed senseless and contrived.

When I moved into my own home, I had friends show up to take my bed apart, and another to assemble my bed.  I had friends pack the moving truck for me, and another crew come to unpack it.  A pastor came and hung pictures for me on his lunch hour, because it's the only time that worked for the both of our schedules.  

And I've had friends who have seen the worst of me, experienced the worst I can dish out and stubbornly refused to quit or give up on me.

And most individuals that go to City Harvest could say the same.  These are not unusual happenings.  They are a part of normal life in a healthy church.  

But the richest part of community? Is the way we unite when there' a member hurting or in trouble.  In the life of any family, there will be times of extraordinary pain---and sadly, at times, sometimes the cause is sin or failure of a member of the body.

But, WE ARE THE CHURCH.  We are the forgiven ones, the ones who know what it's like to be forgiven of untold debts, the darkest place of ourselves.  We know the sweet, overwhelming, indescribable relief of grace when we least expect it.  

We know what it's like to be given empathy when we deserve pain.  We know what it's like to be loved and held and stood by in our darkest hours.  We know what it's like to be seen for exactly who we are, and then accepted, when we expected judgment.  

We know what these are like from Jesus, but we also know what it is to be loved this way from the love of the church, those we worship with every week, and whose lives are intertwined with ours.

So when a brother or sister stumbles, there are no stones in our hands.  Jesus once said, "Let him without sin cast the first stone."  Which of us could ever pick one up?

I have a number of friends from different periods in my life experiencing deep pain right now. All are experiencing what they would deem the most difficult moments in their lives to this point.  My heart hurts for them, and I carry their wounds with me, because at the end of the day, they are family, even the ones it's been almost a lifetime since I've seen.

And I know, that if the situation were reversed, they would do the same.

I attended a conference once, where attendees had to share often and deeply.  Whenever an attendee began sharing pain, staff members would one by one quietly stand.  Our group finally asked it's meaning.  The staff explained that they were standing with us in our pain.  From that point on, as attendees we would also stand to show our support when stories moved us.  At times, the whole room ended up standing.  What honor, what solidarity, what comfort.

The body of Christ is like this.  City Harvest is like this.  We are the church.  We are not a club, we are not a political organization.  We are family.  We weep with those who weep.  We rejoice with those with rejoice.  We stand with our brothers and sisters in their hour of need.

To those who get their version of Christianity from the news, I offer you a different picture.  If you've never experienced love like this, you're invited.  Everyone's welcome at God's table. Jesus paid for the meal.