As a pastor, I have a unique vantage point of looking at people. I get the blessings of seeing the deep beauty, the deep moments and the deep cuts that we all experience. I get calls about life events ... births, weddings, sickness, milestones, deaths ... from people that were/are part of the congregations I have served. The life-long connections are deep, wide and lasting.
In saying the above, I want to share a little of my heart today. This sharing is borne of 28 or so years of serving churches in Kentucky, Florida and Alabama and serving as a layperson in Louisiana, Tennessee, North Carolina, Kentucky and Alabama. In all of these places I have worked and served alongside people who can generally be placed in 2 categories ... riders and journeyers.
I recently met with a person I would classify as a rider. He talked about how he had attended 5 different churches over the last several years. He recounted how each of those churches had failed him in some way. He was disappointed, jaded and almost angry at these people/places that had "failed" him. My friend was a rider. He was on the church bus for a ride that was all about what he could get. He had his agenda, his plan and his needs, all of which constituted his "check-box" for a church that was about him. And he wondered why all of his needs were not met! He left disappointed!
I thought about this man's story in the context of the "rich young ruler" from Luke 18:18-23. The young man asks Jesus "Good teacher ... what must I do to inherit eternal life?" Jesus hears the man give an account of his virtuous life, keeping all the commandments "since he was a boy." Then Jesus says, "You still lack one thing. Sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me." The Bible says, "When he heard this, he became very sad, because he was very wealthy." This young man left disappointed for the same basic reason my non-wealthy and troubled friend left ... Jesus reminds both of them that faith, church and living with Christ involves something that is probably the hardest thing they will ever do ... giving up self for a deep relationship (a journey) with Jesus. "Follow me," Jesus said.
So, do we want a ride or a journey? Because a journey with Jesus is one that starts with giving up self. I tell people being baptized that going under the water was a "dying to self" ... that being lifted up out of the water was a "being raised to life within the context of an imperfect, flawed but journeying Church." That Church is about following Jesus' call to 1) "come" and 2) "follow me (Christ)."
So, I leave this reflection with a prayer for you, me and my friend. The prayer is that my friend "sells all he has." Sell (get rid of) the baggage, needs, rights, prejudices, control, and attitudes that blind our ability to see the Church Jesus has "called". That Church is my dream and hope for all of us. And my prayer is for "Christ to be more and more at home in your hearts, living within you as you trust in him. May your roots go way down deep into the soil of God's marvelous love, and may you be able to feel and understand, as all God's children should, how long, how wide, how deep and how high his love really is! (Ephesians 3:17-19)"
When you are a rider, trying to get to your destination, you will miss all of that! But, if you choose the difficult, thankless but wonderful and joyful journey with Jesus, you will have deep roots, deep love, deep understanding and deep respect for who God is, what God has done and what God can do if we leave the non-eternal for the eternal. That's my prayer for my friend and for all of those who share life, love and journey! AMEN
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