I've been wrestling with a decision I made a few months back to change jobs. There was a lot of excitement surrounding the idea of becoming an electrician and though I didn't expect to be where I am today, here I am. I have been driving to and from Crescent Junction everyday ( 1.5 hours each way ) and it is exhausting me and my family. I use to be very involved in my church and community, but this new job is robbing me from a lot of what is important to me. Sometimes I wish I had kept that lesser paying job, where at least I was a part of a community and not a collective of individuals.
Early this morning I had an hour in our church's prayer room and I opened my bible to 1 Corinthians 12 and the verses that jumped out to me were vs 21-26. To me it describes a community that is interlocked in both its strengths and weaknesses, and a community like that takes some sacrifice. To have the same care for one another? Treating the less presentable parts with a greater care and modesty? Suffering together and sharing the honor? Can we truely do this?
These verses are followed by a section on various giftings given by God and how they range in authority in the church. Paul talks much in 1 Corinthians of the churches need of structure. An organization of individuals (vs 27) committed to Christ and his teachings, individually unique yet collectively united. Chapter 13 is filled with the gooey adhesive that we call love, showing us how we can propel this community daily. An honest reading of Chapter 13 tells me one thing. Love isn't about me, is it.
Paul paints a picture of a faith community that is sacrificial one person for another. With purpose, vision and direction that is bonded together in the love of Christ. To what extent were its members committed? To what depths did they have to submit their lives to it?
I titled my blog Move Sucks Move after a line from a Rage Against the Machine Song - Renegades of Funk -. That spoke a lot to me of were the church in America is going. We are a stone statue that is coming to life. The church has painstakingly crafted itself as a perfect, clean and pure marble statue to this nation that is cold to the touch and unbearably heavy. Though I don't agree with Rage Against the Machines' violent and revolutionary overtones (anarchy and Christ are incompatible), I can't help but feel that there is something in what motivates them that is redeemable for God's Kingdom. And that is seperation. We are called to be in the world, but not of it. How we have compromised for the world, HOW I HAVE COMPROMISED!
how have i?
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