Just a few days left and we’ll be pulling out of our street with a packed U-Haul. Nearly twenty years in this city and lots of memories. Our lives together as husband and wife, as well as in parenthood, began here. It hasn’t always been a bed of roses. Our start began quite rocky, in fact there was a time when we were quickly spiraling downhill into a dark abyss of utter hell. There are some neighborhoods in this town that have always carried a bitterness due to flashbacks to some of those torturous years. In the midst of all we began to discover what Church is.
I’m not talking about the individual churches that schedule times of worship, but the overall Church. In the New testament we see references to the Church at Ephesus, the Church in Pergamum, the Church in Smyrna, and more. Here in this town, we got to know the Church in Chico.
We have been blessed to get to know fellow brothers and sisters in Christ throughout our town. Several congregations gather for worship on various days and it has been truly enjoyable to get to know so many here. You see, for us, Church isn’t about just one congregation. Church is everyone. My friend Joy puts it so beautifully when she said, “the expansive worldwide beautiful people-ness that is Church.“
Many people have been hurt in the churches. The Church is a dysfunctional community of broken people trying to learn how to walk by faith and be healed. Sometimes we have to depart from abusive situations, but we’re still the Family of God, in Christ. As with any family, siblings will squabble. But we’re still family.
We’re not always going to agree how each congregation runs their programs, ministries, or outreach charities. But we’re still family.
Do we so easily forget that there is a greater enemy of The Church? Why are we so quick to take each other down when we can be lifting one another up? We’re in this battle together my friends. There is no need for competition between who fills the most seats in a pew, who can spit the farthest while preaching, or even which congregation has the most money. It matters not which congregation wears the fanciest clothes, drives the fastest cars, or which group sends the most graduates off to seminary.
We’re a Community within a community. We’re a Family that is called to extend love to one another and to the hurting citizens of the city. Some congregations assist the addicts to recovery, some assist broken families to reconcile, some feed the poor, and others house the single moms and their children. We aren’t enemies of one another. We’re on the same Team.
Oh yes, we may jest about each other’s quirks and get angry at abuse within some fellowships…but we’re a Family.
We’re not always going to agree on everything. Our personal experiences with God and with each other plays a huge role in how we view the scriptures, but can we get back to the simplicity of the Gospel?
Love one another.
Love your enemies.
We talk about repentance, but can we repent of being unloving?
Every family has it’s bad days, difficult months, and very trying years. Families have drama, as do congregations. Sometimes we’re too harsh. People go over the line and church discipline can become abuse as decisions within congregations become a muddy mess of blurry lines between boundaries and grace.
Can we err on the side of mercy and work together to create healthy, yet flexible boundaries that allows grace to breathe?
God forbid that we box up grace and suffocate her to death.
Grace is that refreshing water to quench the thirst for the parched.
Have we so limited grace that the Community is emaciated and anorexic?
What does this look like to the rest of the city as they look to us to see if we have something worth drinking?
Ecclesiastes 3 1For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven:
2 a time to be born, and a time to die;
a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted;
3 a time to kill, and a time to heal;
a time to break down, and a time to build up;
4 a time to weep, and a time to laugh;
a time to mourn, and a time to dance;
5 a time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together;
a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;
6 a time to seek, and a time to lose;
a time to keep, and a time to cast away;
7 a time to tear, and a time to sew;
a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;
8 a time to love, and a time to hate;
a time for war, and a time for peace.
Maybe it’s time to drink. Anyone may come, everyone is welcome. Put down your swords and drink with us. Dip your bandages into the cool refreshing water of life and wrap your bleeding wounds. May The Church wave the white flag with one another and declare, Peace.
Ephesians 5: 20 ”giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, 21submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ”
Revelation 22:17 The Spirit and the Bride say, “Come.” And let the one who hears say, “Come.” And let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who desires take the water of life without price.
Luke 2:14 Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.
Farewell my dear Church in Chico…. We’ll see you again..someday. But we’re not leaving The Church…just moving on, to a different city with a new Community that is awaiting our arrival.
There is a broader view..do not forget. The Church is global and we can connect, communicate, support, and love one another through the Internet. Our blogs, Facebook pages, and even Twitterville contains The Church. We are so much more connected than we imagine.
Bless you,
Sisterlisa














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