Shortly after I arrived at Pine Lake I had a conversation with another staff member. He was expressing A LOT of frustration about the church, and I remember saying to him, "This is what it is. This is the church."
I was thinking about that conversation earlier today and realizing how even I had bought into the lie that church was a lot like the rest of the world. I am idealistic by nature but even I had seen enough and lived through enough to realize that Acts 2 wasn't really even a glimmer.
I am changing my mind as I watch and I listen and I dream.
Tonight I went and prayed with a family who had knitted lots of hats. They are sending these hats to Compass Center; the outreach that Missio Lux is going to on Sunday evening. I saw the love and the hope in their eyes as they dreamt about how those hats would make Jesus love was tangible to the men who will wear them.
Tonight I also listened to a message from a family who won't be joining us at Compass Center because they prayed as a family and right after they finished, a call came with an opportunity to reach out to a family full of suffering. They are choosing to follow the Holy Spirit's leading, instead of the "plan."
This afternoon I also got my hair cut from a woman that I have been having spiritual conversations with ever since I came to Seattle 5 1/2 years ago. She has come to church a couple of times, but her eyes lit up when she dreamed about going to an apartment complex and giving something to each family who lives in it. We talk about Jesus, but not much about church.
Once we make the shift from "we go to church" to "we are the church wherever we are" I believe the possibilities are endless~we will see spontaneous acts of love rise up all over and suddenly the world will be asking, "What's changed?" That's when we tell them about Jesus and what he did for us and for them, and suddenly those that hear us speak will listen with receptive ears.
Let's share stories of how we see the church, Jesus' followers, present in the world....what's your story?
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