Day 20 - Vision in the Church

I have been on a couple of church committees since I arrived back at Huffman, and I have noticed an interesting/potentially disturbing trend. The Church, and by that I mean both the local church and the Church Universal, are thinking about the details without any idea of the big picture. We think about need little gimmicks to get people in the front door, small things we can do to convince the community we matter, and a plethora of other things that, in the big picture, no one is going to remember.

If the most important decision we grapple with as a body of faith is how/whether or not to process, we have utterly failed to be a church. If we spend all our time on little details without talking about who we should be in our community, who the world needs us to be, and what God would want us to do, we don't deserve to be the Church. It really is that simple.

People who have a vision and are passionate about that vision will see it carried out or die trying, and that is what we have to strive for. I say this not simply to be critical, but because I believe that God's work is much more important than any one church or group of people's interests. I know people in my faith community, both within the local church and outside of it, who have oodles of vision to serve people and make a difference, and that has to be celebrated and supported. There is no room for egos in the work of the church. There is no room for making ourselves look good or right at the expense of loving one another and the community we live in. This is not difficult to understand, but it takes a lot of pride swallowing to commit to. That's why I am calling out myself on this.

I say things to sound smart a lot, and I need to get over that sometimes. I really do. But I think I've gotten a lot better at catching myself at it and trying to hear what other people have to say all the way through. And what I most often hear is that people wish everyone else would get over themselves. If that's what you think is needed in the church, then start with yourself. Period. Staying focused on petty things is not going to accomplish anything besides making us bitter and ineffective people.

Deciding what we are about as Christians and then prioritizing our lives around that is much more important to being the kind of people we dream of being than "getting ours" or winning any one argument. I am so encouraged that many of the people I know my age and slightly younger really seem to get this, and are making important life decisions around it. But we all have to be in. You are not the most important thing in your life. This world is not yours alone. But you do have work to do, and it is greater and more wonderful than anything you can imagine. Peace and Love.

Money Spent Today - $5.94

Minutes run - 20 running/10 walking

Work accomplished - emergency literature for professor/discussing game theory principles

Positive attitude - Getting There

Better approach to situations - I need to work on more listening, less talking. Was reminded of that both in class directly and indirectly by Rev. Adam Hamilton during a video on Christians getting it wrong. It would seem the wisest people also speak less... so do I speak less and become more wise, or become wiser and begin to speak less...hmm...