The Shining Sun

 

A year has passed since I finalized my selection of stories and the words used to share them in my published memoirs. The book is available now for friends and strangers, perhaps even enemies (by their choice not mine) to read my story.

Writing the story was my quest to understand myself and how life was unfolding around me. I have made significant strides forward in gaining that new understanding and am now ready to enter into the next chapter of my life. Resolved to be more positive. To see the positive gains in every action I take. Refusing to focus inordinately on any frustrations concerning what I didn’t get done.

Being an overachiever comes with its own unique set of challenges. I resolve this year to celebrate the wins of each day. To appreciate any significant step forward toward the goals God has set before me; no matter how small those accomplishments may seem to other people in my life.

As a part of making those resolutions a reality, I will begin writing a second book on this blog that focuses on building a more positive and healthier church in our communities.  Though the current functioning model of church is flawed and fallible in many ways, I still am convinced that it is God’s primary vehicle for transmitting the truth of the Good News into our communities.

I started with the question: “What, for you, is the perfect church?”

My first attempt are these paragraphs. But after writing them, I’m not so sure that “we all want to find the perfect church”. What do you think?

Chapter One: The Perfect Church

We all want to find the perfect church.  We all want to be in the Perfect Church. A church where everyone loves each other.  Everyone encourages one another.  A place like home where everyone knows your name.  Where people rush to your aid when they know you are in trouble.  I think of farmer Frank who was injured in a farming accident during the busy harvest season.  The unfortunate accident laid him up in a hospital making it impossible for him to bring in the harvest.  His neighbor, knowing that the yield of the harvest is real hard currency to a farmer, drives his combine harvester across the property line onto Frank’s acres to harvest his corn. Then puts the harvest into Frank’s barn. When I shared this story with my dear friend Ann, she shared a local Portland Michigan story about a man who fell off a ladder and suffered a brain injury.  Men in the community knew that the injured person used only firewood to heat his family home for the winter.  One hundred men got together to fell some trees; cut the wood to stove size; split the wood; and stacked the wood so that the family had easy access to the wood needed to heat the house for the entire winter season. That is the ideal community for me.  A place where people know, care, love, and act to bless others; even when it’s inconvenient. And I imagine a perfect church to look like that as well.  A network of people that hears about needs and reacts to take care of those needs.  Out of love, they do the difficult because they have compassion, empathy, and a drive to get what is necessary done for the good of another family.

Many opinions exist on defining a perfect church. For me, love ought to reign supreme in all that we say and do.  But the emphasis on love is inadequate if we do not include God in defining what that looks like and how the law of love is lived in the church community and express to our neighbors on the other side of the church walls.

My next question is “What, for you, is a Loving Community?”

You probably have heard that the moment we join a perfect church it ceases to be the perfect church. Yet, most people still believe that admitting just one more imperfect person into the fellowship shouldn’t upset the balance of perfection too badly. But when we become a part of a church, we discover that the majority of people in the church are just like us; wanting perfection while contributing their imperfections to the life of the church.

Most people are forgiving of other individual’s imperfections as long as sufficient effort is demonstrated to show a person’s desire to change and become the best version of himself that he can be. This attitude of grace is a huge intrinsic value of a Loving Community.

Perhaps like me, you have heard of the Acts 2 Church preached and taught about numerous times as the Ideal Early Church Model that we should all strive to be like; to emulate. We expect that first generation of believers; lead by the original apostles who walked with Jesus and sat at His feet learning directly from Him; to establish the Perfect Church. The New Testament Church described in the Book of Acts should be our best example of what a church is; what a church does; why a church does it; where a church does it; who a church does it for; and when a church does it. In my first book, For Pastors Only: Dealing with Rejection in Ministry, I described what I wanted to see in my fellow Christians:

I took special note of it when Linda, a former college classmate of mine, posted on Facebook, a description of her mother as the "sweetest, most patient, godly, faith-filled woman” that she knew.

And I still believe that if we follow the guidelines set out in Acts 2:42, we will see people mature to be sweet, patient, godly, faith-filled followers of Jesus’ teachings and His example of loving others.