One of the things I love about the community of faith is that it gives you time to be superficial and fake whilst giving you time to realise that being way is going to profit you nothing.
In as much as some centre their Christian expressions to the weekly service, there are those who centre it around every day life with Jesus Christ, requiring genuine engagement with Jesus and the brothers and sisters and how does this life bit work out when the gas bill is hard to pay, when the children are appearing out of control and as well as that there is the fact that people need to see Jesus is real in how you deal with those circumstances as well as the ‘evangelism’ bit of telling others about Him.
Those everyday Christians then are a joy to live with. I didn’t say easy to live. I did not say always happy to live with. I said a joy. Because living with these brothers and sisters, the superficial and cover coping mechanisms are soon discerned, and those who discern are also responsible to prayerfully respond. And their prayerful response will challenge you to be real. to allow others to bear your burdens. Sure some people don’t have the maturity. Some people will use it as ammunition against you, etc. But look at the alternative – a community of distrust with the facade of care. God did not give us that option. So we take the plunge and we open to the loving discerning among us. We talk honestly and openly about the challenges.
We don’t just talk but we look for support. Can you pray for me? What on earth does that scripture mean and how does that apply to my situation? Can you look after my children tonight so I can actually spend some time with my husband? Do you know anyone who can help fix the heating? Maybe we need to thrash out why we just don’t get on, so that I can be at some peace, maybe it’s me, maybe it’s you, but I can’t let the issues come between us when we’re meant to get on.
Real issues, because often with the meetings and the time we get to do real life together, it can seem so fleeting, it can seem so shallow. Cheap gossip here, tittle-tattle there, but dealing with issues. The brother who hasn’t been seen for weeks, is merely told he cannot function, rather than enquired as to what’s he been up to, how is he (as well as the question why no one has been able to get in touch with him for so long).
I’m sure I am not the only one who sits in services and rather than hearing the droning on at the front, tend to look at the faces of those sitting and listening … or at least giving the impression of listening … or at least honestly not paying any attention at all to the droning on at the front. You see the faces, you see the frowns, you see the fake smiles, and you wonder, what’s going on and why are we investing time in droning on at the front, rather than stopping to deal with the faces.
That’s why I love the community of faith it gives you time to be superficial and fake whilst giving you time to realise that being way is going to profit you nothing.
For His Name’s Sake
Shalom
dmcd
Life With CD 