We arrived in Colorado a week ago. In that week we have had to replace a furnace, put a hot water heater in, fix a caved in roof, hunt down (literally) our postal carrier, get three feet of snow shoveled off the roof, go without water for 5 days, remove a dead cat in the crawl space, and haul a dead skunk off the property. I have been in the well pit dozens of times. Everything has been a complete mess. Instead of boring readers with my whining about what we have been through, I thought I would focus on what Papa has been doing.
And the most important thing Papa has been teaching me is that He is easily found when looked for. I am learning that when I remove the glasses of religious garbage, He tends to show up more. We first found him in the local bar and grill down the street. He showed up as a couple of friendly gals running this 'mucho local color' bar at the bottom of our hill. They talked and fed us and told stories of their horse trip last summer. They invited us into their family there at the bar and made sure we knew we were welcome any time. They were Jesus to us, whipping up hamhocks and beans (for free) and introducing us to everybody who came through the door. It was the church without the stained glass and self righteousness, without sunday best clothing and easter bonnets. And nobody hit us up for tithes or offerings. I made an offering, by the way, and tried to pay for the hamhocks and beans. They refused my offering and were slightly miffed that I would try to buy them off. It was a gift, not something you pay for.
I can't say that we will frequent the bar regularly, but it was a great place. And I hate to say it, but more 'church' happened there than has happened in the box on Sunday morning in years. And I didn't have to feel guilty or obligated or feel like there was something wrong if I wanted to get up and leave anytime I wanted. I didn't have to put on any pretenses or go through any religious hoopla. I got to be me.
Why is it that community happens outside of our self focused understanding of what should and shouldn't be in the kingdom of God? Why is it that we Christians think we are so much better or so much different than bar folks? More than that, why do we PRIDE ourselves in our difference? Maybe it's time for someone to stand up and speak the truth: "Self righteousness looks like crap when we wear it, so lets stop wearing it and be real people".
We are talking about going to the institution this Sunday morning. I wonder if we will find Papa there.
Friday, March 14, 2008
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
Mike I love your thoughts because you're crazy. Good luck with the institution thing. You never know what you'll find. Wouldn't it be crazy to find a community of like minded people who are even crazier than you are? What would that look like?
One thing that my pastor started saying a couple of years ago was that this whole service stuff that we do on sunday mornings isn't really church, it's more of a way to reference when all of us should get together. He said that church is what happens at the coffee table 20 minutes before church, and all over the building for an hour or two after "church" has ended. that's what church is really all about, the relationships. it's not the what, it's the who.
Post a Comment