There has been plenty of discussion out there around one rule for us, one rule for them. There is real pain behind the stories of those who did as they were asked, made raw once more by revelations of leaders actions. As I have been reading Amos these mornings I am reminded once more that it is not for me to judge or bring about punishment. I need have no fear of leaders and the walls they build around them. God is sovereign over all.
We are called to love one another, to build each other up, to spur each other on, to pray for one another. My prayer today for those who pastor is that we take the time to ensure we are not creating communities with one rule for us and one for others. That we do not hide behind positions of leadership and authority or even God’s word. Our call to pastor is to serve, whether we know more theology or doctrine than others is not our power permission but our humbling and service. Let us not be found to get frustrated with leaders of countries when we are no different in own communities. As we often say with our children when they question the way adults in power can behave we are able to draw it back to actions played out within our own family within that week, and why we spend so much time on their character. It may not be being played out on the national or world stage but that does not make it alright.
Maybe this is something you are already doing, but maybe this could be a new way of loving your body. Whether you have a church directory or some other list go through that list praying not for them in an ‘out there way’ but asking God to show you how this year you can serve that person, that family. Not what do they need to know, not what areas would be great to see them serve but how can you serve them. It may mean you have to put down another project or program but maybe that is what your community needs more than programs and events. I know I need to do this for our family.
I will never forget the knock on the door, and opening it to an older man with a beautiful bunch of daffodils and him handing them to me saying that he and his wife were praying and if there was anything they could do just to ask. It took me a moment to register who this man was, Dr James Houston ( a founder of Regent College, Vancouver). Then I realised that just an hour earlier I had had a phone call from his wonderful wife Rita, who I had not meet before then. The spouses of the Regent faculty took it upon themselves to call the students, working their way through the directory each week, to be able to pray for us in tangible ways. That morning before the phone call I had been at the hospital and was awaiting biopsy results; thankfully a week later I got the all clear; but in that moment on that day in a country away from all that was familiar, that call, those prayers and those flowers spoke louder to me than any theology or doctrine lecture on what it means to be part of God’s people and reflected God’s character in a way that has lasted beyond the hours of lectures, reading and writing those 3 years contained. So maybe the same will be true in our churches. I am not saying stop preaching, we need the Bible opened up, but maybe just maybe there is another way as we serve in action that will reflect the character of God than getting others to serve our plans and programs as we move toward them in prayer and service. Let us not think we know what our communities need without talking to them and hearing them, without coming before God and letting God answer.
Joshua's Tree Rooted 