After last night's business meeting I came away from there all sideways and ill-feeling. I know we have to discuss budgets and meetings and business stuff. But the disagreements over the silliest things just makes me tired! I don't get how people can be so, well, just mad. Mad about everything and all the time. But that's the thing about church. It's full of people. The people - all of them - make up the church and like it or not, agree or disagree, we're all in this thing together! I've heard it said "If you find the 'perfect' church, don't join it! You'll just mess it up!"
People are emotionally-driven, self-absorbed beings! Even when we try real hard not to be! It's part of the challenge of being a Christian. Because we're not perfect - nothing will ever be perfect! No one can be 100% happy 100% of the time so I'm not going to worry about it anymore! The color of the carpet - even though it matters a great deal to people - won't get a single soul into Heaven. Neither will singing hymns from the Baptist Hymnal, the best audio/visual equipment money can buy, a finely tuned Building and Grounds committee, coming in under budget or over budget, or the pastor sporting Chuck Taylor kicks. At the end of the day the ONLY thing that matters is the Good News of Jesus Christ! By His Grace I am saved! Not by Grace and candlesticks dedicated to someone's great grandfather back in the 1940's but by His Grace alone! If someone wants to come to church to be all mad, complaining and looking for an opportunity to pounce on someone for disagreeing with the status-quo well so be it. Rest assured, I will be ignoring it from now on. Peter, who loved and trusted Jesus very much, while walking on the water took his eyes off Jesus for only a moment and he started to sink. The Devil can and will use anything and anybody to cause us distraction. I will never, ever come out of my church in worse shape than when I walked in ever again. When I'm inside the 4 walls of my beloved TBC I will worship God, praise His Holy name, do his work and no matter what I will keep my eyes on Jesus! And only Jesus. Loving Jesus is easy. Church - ain't for the faint of heart!
That was last night. But let me tell you about tonight. For the month of February our pastor has put together many different 'compassion events' - different opportunities to serve the community while showing the love of Christ. "Love in Action", based on 1 John 3:18. Tonight six of us went along with the pastor to a place called The Gastonia Street Ministry. It's just a little place on the west side of downtown that serves meals and a sermon to people who are basically homeless or on drugs or generally down on their luck. Our team walked in, said hello to the people the ministry serves and made our way into the seats. I sat in a blue, plastic chair that was too small for my behind. On the wall behind the pulpit was a giant cross crudely built out of particle board. Nothing matched, it smelled a little musty and the greenery in the "sanctuary" was 2 plastic and silk ficas trees that could have used a good dusting. Absent was the plush, cranberry carpeting, intricately carved, oak furniture, brass collection plates and ornate, stained glass windows. Also missing were any mad people, nit-pickers, worryers and anyone there to somehow fill their religion quota for the week. The people came to 'church' to hear the word of God and to praise and worship their savior. That is all. And nothing else mattered. At all. I felt so comfortable there sitting beside my down-trodden brothers and sisters. My heart was fresh, my mind was clear and I was ready to receive the word God had for me and the others gathered.
When they took up the colletion, someone actually put pennies in the plate. Pennies!! And the people of the ministry were so, so grateful. I can't explain the feeling other than it made me cry when the man who took up the plate reminded us of the poor widow in Luke 21. "As he looked up, Jesus saw the rich putting their gifts into the temple treasury. He also saw a poor widow put in two very small copper coins. "I tell you the truth," he said, "this poor widow has put in more than all the others. All these people gave their gifts out of their wealth; but she out of her poverty put in all she had to live on." We really were in the middle of the people that Jesus had such as heart for! I was overcome with emotion and love.
And then my pastor stepped up to the mic. He was dressed in faded jeans, a flannel shirt over a tee-shirt and some black Chuck Taylors. No one cared. And he brought his gift - the most raw, unadorned, real, humble and perfect message I've ever heard him do. He was truly free. There would be no judgement, no critiques, no complaints. There was no one to impress, no one was inadvertantly insulted, no hurt feelings. Just sheep to his shepherd. He stood in the makeshift church and told homeless people to REJOICE! Told us all despite any bad circumstances we might ever find ourselves in to rejoice in the Lord, Jesus Christ! At the end of the day, he said, "If we have Jesus nothing else matters." He said that and meant it and its true! The people agreed with him - even while we were sitting in too small plastic chairs in a room with no carpet anywhere!
We plated up pizza and handed out donated drinks for the people, spent sometime talking with the guests and even little Matthew handed out Bibles to anyone who might need one. Then we packed up our van and left. I will never, ever forget this night. It will be the night I remember fondly when business meeting nights go south at my church. I wish that every member of TBC could go serve dinner just one time at Gastonia Street Ministry. Stuff like song selections, hairstyles, flower budgets and second phone lines - although important - wouldn't matter much anymore!
