What's in a name?

Feels like I haven't written anything for ages. I've been gathering my thoughts! Following recent events I've been thinking so much about what the Church (capital C) is called to be.

"on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven." (Matthew 16:18-19)

It has been a really challenging journey as I've thought and prayed about it. And I don't suppose for a minute that the journey has ended, so expect "What's in a name; Part 2" very shortly! But a few of the things that have consistently stuck out to me are:

Compassion

"Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God" (2Corinthians 1:3-4)

Compassion is what revealed the true mother of the disputed baby (1Kings 3:26). I believe that that same driving, motivating feeling of love and understanding is what should set us apart as Christians in a broken and hurting world.

In the above passage, Paul writes that we recieve comfort from God so that we can pass that comfort on to other people. The Old Testament is full of stories of God's compassion. The Psalms repeatedly make reference to it. Jesus on many occasions is moved "by compassion" to do something, a perfect example being when He healed the leper...

"A man with leprosy came to him and begged him on his knees, "If you are willing, you can make me clean." Filled with compassion, Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. "I am willing," he said. "Be clean!" Immediately the leprosy left him and he was cured." (Mark 1:40-42)

In those days, leprosy was serious business (the Greek word refers not just to leprosy but to a variety of diseases which affect the skin). There were strict laws in place regarding what a person with the disease could and couldn't do, and that anybody coming in to contact with such a person would render themselves unclean. But here we see Jesus filled with compassion bypassing all the laws and policies that isolate and devalue the man, reaching out His hand and touching him. No doubt it would have caused uproar among the religious experts and the people who saw the proceedings - the same people who were more worried about the fact that Jesus broke a rule by healing a man on the sabbath than the fact that a man had just been healed in their Synagogue (see Matthew 12:9-14).

Recently I've seen versions of that where people and organisations get so caught up in policies and rules and wrapping themselves in cotton wool to protect themselves that they miss the fact that we are called to a broken and hurting world that is in desperate need of compassion. Jesus did things that broke the law, made people hate him and eventually kill him (after a few failed plots)...but He still did them because He knew what needed doing. I get a really strong sense that we are called to go against the grain sometimes, to do things that seem stupid in the eyes of the world. We're not working in the name of the world, we're working in the name of Jesus and as such we should do things His way and not be ashamed of it. If Jesus hadn't acted with compassion and did the things that He did for the people He did them for, nobody else would have done it. People are in desperate places with desperate needs and desperate hurts that the world, in all it's rules and policies and fears, won't respond to. If the Church won't meet those needs and stand with those people then who will?

Sacrifice

Another thing that I've been reminded of is that it isn't acceptable to offer our working days up to God...Monday 10-5, Tuesday evenings, Friday afternoons and all day Sunday. God demands our life, 24/7. I'm always really humbled by the calling of the first disciples (Matthew 4:18-22) - how as Jesus calls Peter, Andrew, James and John to leave their family business and security and comfort zone to follow Him, each of them dropped what they were doing and followed Him "immediately". Not one of them would have had a clue what lay ahead. The fact that they were merely following in the family trade meant that they had no potential for making a way for themselves so they may have doubted their ability to do what Jesus required of them...but nonetheless they laid down their job, their security, their family commitments etc and made a commitment to the call of Jesus. Jesus makes no attempt to hide the sacrifice involved in being a disciple...

As they were walking along the road, a man said to him, "I will follow you wherever you go." Jesus replied, "Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head." He said to another man, "Follow me." But the man replied, "Lord, first let me go and bury my father." Jesus said to him, "Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and proclaim the kingdom of God." Still another said, "I will follow you, Lord; but first let me go back and say good-by to my family." Jesus replied, "No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God." (Luke 9:57-62)

If we're too busy with our own "personal commitments" to be God's hands and feet at any time then what good are we? Yes, it's a costly call. Yes, James and John's dad might have been a bit put out when they left him. Yes, it does mean sometimes losing a lot of sleep. But I believe that there is no greater joy than that of seeing the love of God expressed in a costly situation.

"I will not sacrifice to the LORD my God burnt offerings that cost me nothing" (2Samuel 24:24). Had David built the altar there on a free plot of land using free materials as offered by Araunah it would't have been the sacrifice that God had commanded. If we live lives of conditional ministry that fits within our time restraints and outside commitments, it isn't the sacrifice that God has commanded. When Jesus fed the five thousand, the disciples complained that it was getting late. They were tired and worn out. Right now, as I'm sitting in the office at church writing this, I have to be honest and say that I'm feeling pretty crap. I don't understand a lot of things that are happening at the moment. I'm tired, have had a stressful day and want nothing more than to go home to bed. But I'm struck once again by the fact that despite the disciples' weaknesses, Jesus did amazing things that evening. If the Church won't meet the needs and stand with the people that come at "inconvenient times" then who will?

Desperate

It seems a strange word, and maybe it's not the right word to use. But I sense that we need to be a people who know that we are nothing on our own. There's nothing really that I can say to elaborate on that one.

"You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world. They are from the world and therefore speak from the viewpoint of the world, and the world listens to them." (1John 4:4-5)

"'Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit,' says the LORD Almighty" (Zechariah 4:6)

"For we have no power to face this vast army that is attacking us. We do not know what to do, but our eyes are upon you" (2Chronicles 20:12)

What would it be like to be a people who rely and trust solely in God, regardless of what society says, regardless of how bleak things look from our sheltered perspective? Somebody speaking at church on sunday mentioned the moment when Jesus prayed for the cup of suffering to be taken away from Him...He prays the "yet not my will but Yours" bit, then (a verse I hadn't noticed before)..."an angel from heaven appeared to him and strengthened him" (Luke 22:43).

I believe we need to be a people who do everything in prayer (Philippians 4:6-7) and worship...

"Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will." (Romans 12:1-2)

As I mentioned at the beginning, this is nowhere near the end of the list. I sense that God has so much more on the horizon for me to learn. If it's going to be anything like the recent events that have taught me the things above then I'm slightly scared! But I'm also slightly tired so I'm going home, and will continue another time. Basically though, if the Church won't, then who will?