At the beginning of this year I made a set of goals.  One of those goals was to write 30 blogs this year.  This blog marks #30.  I think I'll go way beyond 30 though.  Hopefully you stick with me.  On this "goal-meeting" blog I decided to write what is dearest to my heart.


I have been in church all my life.  In my 36 years I have been a regular member at only 2 churches.  The second church I was at for 17 years.  Including my employment at churches I have been a part of 7 churches.  The two I grew up in and 2 that I interned for during summers and then the 3 churches I have worked for as a full-time minister.  I say all of that to say this:  Church is extremely important to me.  Let me say that even more specifically:  The LOCAL church is extremely important to me.  The significance of the church comes from a deep rooted faith, a faithful and consistent church-going family, authentic faith relationships with other church members, intellectual study (including formal Christian education), the word of so many church fathers, the Bible, and my personal experience as a member and minister with the local congregation.  I love church!  I may not always agree with what a church does or even always like church.  But I have a deep, unconditional love for the local church.  I believe in the church.  I believe in it when it is flawed and I believe in it when it inspires beyond its perceived ability.  So I want to take this blog to share some thoughts on church.

Every Sunday as I take my place on the stage to deliver a message for those who have joined together to worship God at UCC in Conway, AR, I look out into a crowd full of faces and silently pray a short prayer.  Work through me Lord!

It is quite interesting all the things a preacher, or any public speaker for that matter, sees while they are speaking to a crowd.  I almost hate to share this best kept secret.  I see people's eyes, their facial expressions, head-nodding, uncomfortable body language, way too comfortable body language (sleeping), people getting up and leaving, walking around, or even arriving in the middle of the sermon.  I see people who are tracking with my message and those lost in a world all their own.  And while this helps me as speaker to either add some inflection to bring attention back to the message or explain something a bit more to help the idea come to life, it is not the greatest thing I see.

The best thing that I see when I stand before a people who have made all the necessary sacrifices to come meet God, Jesus, Spirit, and Church that morning is the countenance of Christ.  I see the body of Christ!  I see black,/white, catholic/protestant, young/old, female/male, sufferers/blessed, survivors/thrivers, strong/weak, gatherers/missionaries, republicans/democrats/independents, liberals/conservatives, and churched/unchurched.  It inspires me and should inspire you that on one hour on a Sunday each week such a diverse group can enter the same building and find a common bond in Jesus Christ.  They are all walking on a similar path dedicated to a lifelong journey with Christ.  Some have been on that path all their life and there are others who have to yet to decide if this will be the journey for them or not.

And why is this a place of such unity in the face of incredible diversity?  Because whether we hold the same ideals, desires, interests, backgrounds, or experiences we have the same spouse; Christ.  The church is His bride and this common factor draws us together to not only be inspired by His word, His worship, and His people but also because of His Spirit.  When we come together we can all share how Christ has wept with us, cheered with us, challenged us, and saved us!  

There is one thing I know about the church.  The church is bigger than any individual involved.  The church is at its best when it comes together to celebrate, lament, and serve as one body.  A body that is local and global.  A body that is united and yet diverse.  A body that understands that Jesus has already come and is yet to come again.  A body that lives because it is part of the Kingdom today and the Kingdom that is yet to be fully realized. 

So when I stand up to preach this Sunday and I say, "Work through me, Lord!" I will see you nodding and nodding off, but more importantly I will see an incredible set of individuals who have joined together for a journey of following Christ and living Kingdom life together.  And believe me, it is a sight to behold.  It's the best view in the building!

There was a lot of talk this past week about the Vatican conclave choosing a new Pope.  It was all over my Facebook and Twitter feeds.  There were prayers being sent, information being reported, but mostly witty comments and jokes being made.  I saw several of my friends making tweets about waiting for the call from the vatican.  This is all good humor.  One of my favorite humorous posts comes from a friend in Abilene, 
"Add a Sorting Hat and you have the makings of an 8th Harry Potter." 
Then there were many comments about the smoke and how that would communicate the decision.  Of course after the selection of Pope Francis, there was much good said about him and now the critics are having their voice.  But what I really want to share on my blog is about this idea of closing yourself off to the public and being vulnerable before God about your decisions. I love humor, so I get this comment and others and have laughed in jest with the different quips and ideas.  This is flattery and all of these kinds of comments must be kept in perspective that humor is okay.  It is fun and does not take away from seriousness of the event. But there is truth in every joke and the amount of comments, mostly from protestants, shows that we have our suspicions about the idea of this secret meeting and its reliance upon the Spirit.

Say what you want about Catholicism, Pro or con, I love this move they make to consort with God, the Holy Spirit.  All Christians should be this bold with the decisions we make regarding our spiritual direction.  I have long been a critic of considering God and praying for us to have a good parking spot or something of this insignificant nature.  It's not that I don't appreciate a good parking spot or a nice house, or don't want to win American Idol or the lottery, but it's that there are some things that either happen or don't happen, not necessarily due to God's providence, but just due to how things fall.  I want all Christians to put their hope in things above and count on the moving the Holy Spirit, but the promises of God aren't for us to have comfortable, easy lives.  The promise of God is that His son will return and that he has prepared a new Promised Land that will last for eternity and we are invited.  So while I accept the leading of the Holy Spirit, I reject that God intended for us to have a parking spot closest to the mall in mind as he commanded us to follow his crucified, resurrected son and to pray in his name.  There is more at stake than that in the Kingdom.  The Holy Spirit is at work and we need to open ourselves to His leading.  I think that's exactly what the Cardinals were doing during the conclave.

This opens a huge can of worms and room for great pondering.  What does God genuinely care about?  Well, he cares about his creation.  He cares about His kingdom.  He cares about His people (please read all people).  I hope this isn't over simplified.  Within each of these there are other ideas to explore.  Kingdom has so much wrapped up in it, just like creation, and just like people.  In biblical times you wouldn't find an Israelite or a follower of Christ who separated out their religious world, their social world, their work world, and their private/family world.  These were all combined in how they lived and what they did.  So when they were sick, they had sinned against God.  When they were rich, wealthy, and healthy, they were following close to God and listening to His ways.  Nowadays we take these worlds and we separate them.  God is at church or when we say, "Bless You."  We make our money at work and it is through our determination to the job, the hours we put in, and the way we lead that gives us our paycheck (as opposed to our following of God).  Friends are in our social planes (virtual or real) and we have success in relationships based on our own feelings, happenings, or support given.  And our family is found in our home behind our front door, within our fenced-in yard, and plastered on our Christmas card.  When we get sick its a virus or an infection.  When we get a raise it's because we have done good work.  When we fail, it is because we made poor choices, or someone else did, or because it wasn't the right time or opportunity.  Okay, I've stepped on some toes here and I have made some grand generalizations and to the negative side of humanity.  I get that and its all for this point.  We need to bring all of those worlds together under God.  We need to explore what God wants for not just us individually, but for us as a people (do I dare use the term church here).  We need to barricade ourselves off from the world sometimes to call on God and to seek His will and His direction.

When we hire ministers, select deacons, call elders, place membership, promote discipleship, serve those in need, send missionaries, collect an offering, or chart a vision we need to remove distractions and call on the Holy Spirit.  So many times we make decisions in churches based on how it will impact attendance, finances, moods, or outside appearances.  That's why we need to be called to a private, holy, space and allow for our focus and question to be what is best for the Kingdom and what does God want for us.  Then when the decision has been made we can send the smoke into the sky knowing we have given it over to God and his leading and we follow his plan.  Maybe then our different worlds will collide and what we see done in our churches, even when done in private, we can take home with us and allow for God to lead us there too and all over the world.  Where there is Spirit, there is God.

I know this song is about dying, but I love it and the Spirit is moving in the sky and on the ground!

There are many journeys or treks shown through scripture.  There are countless in the Old Testament when the Israelites were pursuing God through worship, wandering in the desert when disobedient, or crusading when conquering in His name.  There are positive journeys where the Israelites followed God's plan and were rewarded and times when they ended up exiled to foreign lands because of their arrogance and disobedience.  In the New Testament we are quickly shown that Jesus doesn't stay in one place too long.  Paul has several missionary journeys and even John when receiving his great revelation was moved swiftly from place to place and vision to vision.  Sometimes these movements were calculated and expected and other times where those traveling are pleasantly surprised like on the road to Emmaus.  The book of Acts and the sets of letters that follow are sure indications of the church moving and growing as Christ is being preached and the Spirit is working miraculous things.


Then there is today.  We have gone through strong periods of time where "journey" language has been lost and finding the right way of thinking and arriving at certain destinations have taken over.  Whether those destinations are praying Jesus into your heart, baptism, or being a radical servant when we think we have arrived, we are on dangerous ground.  Life with Christ is a journey.  Sometimes we are on the right path and sometimes we lose our way.  The key is finding that path with Christ and walking on it together.


If we take this journey alone we are sure to get weary, lose our way, or just give up.  We need one another to continue on the journey.  Together we can challenge one another, dream new visions, and spur on one another.  I'm excited by the journey we are all on.  Now how do we take this journey together with so many differences and preferences.  Next time let's talk about what it means to be gathered together to share the journey.


-Michael