Yesterday I was helping my brother-in-law Jason sand his deck with a big stand up power sander. I’ve never used a thing like this…I have to admit, it was pretty fun. As one who normally avoids physical labor (or has very little opportunity for it, which compounds my avoidance), I really enjoyed wrestling this around the deck. It gave me time to think.
I was thinking about my life and my journey as a follower of Christ…specifically about how my thinking about the mission of the Church has changed and evolved. Over the past few years I have been thinking more and more as a ‘missionary.’ Asking questions like, “What does the Church look like to people who aren’t a part of it? How can we communicate the message of freedom in Christ to people who don’t care?” In essence, I am trying to see the world, the Church, and the message of the Church about Jesus through the eyes of people who have had no experience, or negative experiences with the Church.
One thing that I have realized is that once I began this journey, there is no ‘unseeing’ what I have seen…Or unlearning what I have learned. I have discovered that this journey is an A-Z journey, and I am only at the beginning.
While I was sanding I was thinking about how little kids’ first associations with the alphabet are the three letters A, B, and C. But as they get older they learn more about A, B, and C’s friends DEFGHIJK…you get the idea. But once kids learn the whole alphabet it is impossible to only think of it as ABC. I feel in many ways that my recent experience has revealed the many ways that my mind, heart, and soul have been challenged to expand and think. I see the world different now. I see the Church different now. And I see the message of the Church different now.
My prayer is that as I continue to add letters to my knowledge of the alphabet that my passion for people, cultures, the Church, and Jesus will grow and grow. I am so thankful for how we (Jen is a part of this process too!) have been gifted with life and I hope that we will be given more and more opportunity to live into the experiences that God has given us…unless there is hard manual labor involved of course.
I can’t tell you much I agree with this. I was talking to my best friend from college today about this same thing. I just don’t see Christianity the same anymore. I have had so many experiences and read books and traveled the work and seen things that has just challenged my view. For most of my life, the context of knowing and experiencing God only came through quiet time, reading the bible or Christian books, and church or fellowship with other Christians. I realize that God is in those things but if those are the only places I find God, then I miss out on the 95% of him in the rest of the world and the way he reveals himself to those who never step foot inside of a church. For me, God is no longer in a box because I look at him from the world’s perspective. And as a Christian, I can’t put him back in my box anymore. He just doesn’t fit. Thanks for this post.
I’m not a ‘missionary’ in the same sense of the word as you are, but it’s interesting that I find myself on the same journey of trying to define what ‘being the Church’ means. After leaving a ministry in the physical church and moving into a hands on, day to day life of ministry to people that are facing their addictions, tearing off their masks and allowing Christ to reach deep into the wounded hearts that brought them to this place, I think…”THIS is the church”. Bloodied, soiled, imperfect and not afraid to say so. (well, maybe afraid sometimes, but having the courage to push on in spite of the fear of rejection -often by the physical church). Keep sanding Justin.