Three Questions for Wednesday's Coffee Break

I spent three hours yesterday doing a nuclear stress test - on a treadmill and on a table in a gamma imaging tube trying to find the source of a nagging pressure I've had in my chest for the last few years.

I tell you this to "stress" the fact that I don't want to waste time.

The mainline church is stressed. It may be dying. Maybe it should. Maybe it has to. Maybe the vehicle God used to bring the faith to this continent for the last 500 years has outlived its usefulness. Maybe the tree needs to die in the forest and fall in order to make space and nutrients for the new growth. Or, maybe a shoot will come forth from the stump of Jesse and grow into something beautiful with all the best of the DNA of the first tree and none of the dead wood.

I like to think I'm working on the living end of the dying church, trying to birth something new - or at least trying to find the healthiest DNA left in the old church and replicate it before the patient dies.

 

Birth is always messy. Only an institutional death is slow and antiseptic. If you try to create something new, it will be messy. Guaranteed. There will be pain. There will be push. There may be some embarrassment. There will be tearing. You may need to call out for drugs!

If you don't try to birth something new, you will have much more peace... as you slowly and quietly slip away.
 

God will build the church. No question about that. The only three questions are:

1. Will there be any Lutherans, Methodists, Presbyterians, and Episcopalians there when it happens?
2. A second, more important question might be - does it really matter?
3. If your answer to #2 is yes, then what will you do about it today?

Georges Pompidou of France always used to say, "Conception is more fun than delivery."

Let me know if you want to fool around with the future.

That's enough discussion for your Wednesday afternoon coffee break.

Comments

[Diane]

It has always been my belief that God doesn't look at the name on the door of your church. . .He only looks at hearts! It would be exciting to see a great move of God in ALL denominations, but in order to do so we have to quit looking at our "religion" with "it's always been this way" eyes. Instead we need to refocus our eyes on God's Word, studying to see how Jesus looked at the world when He walked among us in the Gospels of the New Testament, and then following His perfect example.

Also it is interesting to study the pattern God gave us in the Old Testament. If you look closely, you will see that the plight of the Israelites is very much a pattern of our own lives--from being slaves [to sin!] to being delivered from the bondage [by Jesus' sacrifice] and yet how we wander around and complain about where we are led to! This is the third year I have taken on reading the Bible through, and each time new insights are found. This year it seems as the "word" I'm getting from God is to read it with an open mind so that He can reveal new things.

Most recently I have been reading about the period of time when there was a "Divided Kingdom" with Judah and Israel having different kings. To me this was a picture of many different kinds of division. . .in families, in churches, and in our nation. An interesting verse I found last week was 1 Kings 12:15. Actually, just the middle part of the verse seemed to jump off the page: ". . .for this turn of events was from the Lord, to fulfill the word the Lord had spoken. . ." It was making reference to a negative turn of events. Somehow it was as though God was reassuring me that when things don't go as I think they should, it is okay because He has a purpose for all that happens.

So much for my two cents worth tonight!

Blessings!
~Diane