Archive for May 7th, 2009
Outside the Stained Glass
For May 7
[Jesus said] “This, then, is how you should pray:
“‘Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name,
your kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us today our daily bread.
And forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from the evil one.
For or yours is the kingdom and the power
and the glory forever. Amen.’”
“The devil does some of his best work behind stained glass.” This quote is from Eugene Petersen’s book, The Jesus Way. I am not sure why it is so easy to lose sight of true kingdom work Jesus wants to see happen and focus on our petty churchland silliness. But I know that I am often part of both the process and the problem of this silliness. I don’t believe the answer is to completely dump or give up on organizational church. Petersen put it this way:
We must not try to be more spiritual than Jesus in this business. Following Jesus means following him into sacred buildings that have a lot of sinners in them, some of them very conspicuous sinners. … A spirituality that has no institutional structure or support very soon becomes self-indulgent and subjective and one-generational.
Petersen makes this observation after pointing out how much time Jesus spent in the synagogue and Temple in his day.
But we must not allow ourselves to grow complacent and only offer one option of “church” — sometimes called, God in the big box — for folks trying to find God. While there is a level on which it seems incredibly difficult to try, our church feels called to offer Home Gatherings as well as multiple assemblies to reach the people of our community. These groups all have the same mission and vision. We all share in combined services several times a year and shared ministry days together. Yet we are able to offer different places for folks to connect with Jesus’ people in worship, community, and service.
How is that sustainable? On a strictly human level, I don’t think it is sustainable.
At a divine level, however, we believe it is sustainable through the work of the Holy Spirit. Yet for us to hold together and be the Body of Christ and not just an alliance of different groups, we are going to have pray, “Your kingdom come, your will be done … in us here on earth in our generation for your glory!”
When Thomas, the so-called “doubting disciple,” finally met the resurrected Jesus, he gave us words to pray this prayer in a different way. This simple prayer affirms our submission to the Lord’s way and the Lord’s will. Thomas’ five words acknowledge the authority of Jesus over all of our ways:
“My Lord and my God!” (John 20:28).
Amen!