The Essential Church . . . Take Eight: Centering
Friday, July 31, 2009
Minneapolis, Minnesota
This series draws to a close.
The room, the place, the people, the keys, the music, the hopes all have their places. It remains for them to find their call. The essential church is Catholic, Baptist, Congregational, Mennonite, Lutheran, Methodist, Seventh Day Adventist . . . the list goes on and on.
Each find ways to shape answers to essential questions: what do we do with Jesus? What does Jesus have to do with God? What does God have to do with Jesus? How specific do we need to be? Can we be specific without being xenophobic? How wide a circle of friends are we to be? How disciplined should we be? What will we do when the fierce battles between budget scarcity and trust in a God of abundance tug us in two directions?
Eventually, perhaps like a dog chasing its tail until it decides the quest is futile and settles down, we settle down and find a theme. The theme may change over the years, but it is always there.
The Quakers who were once known for quaking at services are now known for their perception that because all of life is a sacrament the offerings of communion or baptism are not necessary and that keeping silence removes the distractions that so easily sow fear in our soul. To take this seriously, to harbor it carefully, is a beautiful thing. My mother and father are Quakers. My mother worshiped for well over a decade before she ever spoke in a meeting. Her waiting was a sifting that tried to ensure what she would say came from God rather than her reactions to the news of the day or opinions she had formed over the years. And so . . . peace. . . . not as the world gives . . . but as God gives . . . just as Jesus said so long ago.
Our children were all born in a Seventh Day Adventist hospital. My wife’s life was saved by its physicians after the ever so difficult delivery of our twins. With collapsed veins, her doctor realized things were not going well. The next needle had to “hit.” Alice came by, took the syringe in hand, drew in her breath, and said, “Okay, Lord, here we go.” She pushed. The needle sank. She hit it. Hope returned. Two weeks later Connie came home to hold Ben and Andy. These Seventh Day Adventists, I do not know what they believe, but healing is their theme and for that I am forever grateful.
And so it goes.
There is a centering.
There is this responding to call.
There is this finding of a theme.
And, of course, what is true of churches is true for you. There are keys to your life, too. There are tables in your life as well. There is music in your life. There is a thread that runs through your life. It may not seem like much, but guess what . . . it’s enough.
Follow it.
Many blessings,
Larry