Our grandson, Colin, LOVES to play with my glasses. He is fascinated that my eyes hide behind the clear plastic lenses. He will say “eyes” and reach and touch the glasses. Then he giggles, says “eyes” again and touches the lenses.
When I take the glasses off he peers at the lenses, then looks at my eyes, says “eyes”, touches my face then giggles, reaching for the glasses, wanting me to put them back on. I do and he says “eyes” again and touches the lenses.
We can repeat this scenario multiple times during the day. Needless to say, if I don’t clean my glasses after each encounter with a sticky-fingered 18-month-old, they get quite smeary.
Since my lenses are a hard plastic, I am careful when I clean them - past experience has taught me that they can get scratched.
When we are with our grandchildren for a day, or (in rare, but wonderful) several days, my glasses can get to the point of being almost “foggy”.
Recently we were with our grandchildren for a full day, leaving their house around 7 pm in order to get home by 9 pm, and soon after, to bed.
I did not take the time to clean my glasses before we left and went to bed without cleaning them. When I got up in the morning to have coffee with Bill, I realized that I was seeing the world through “a glass smearily”.
In the King James version of the Bible Paul says in I Corinthians 13, verse 12, “now we see through a glass darkly…” I like the way the Message puts it: “We don't yet see things clearly. We're squinting in a fog, peering through a mist. But it won't be long before the weather clears and the sun shines bright! We'll see it all then, see it all as clearly as God sees us, knowing him directly just as he knows us!”
As human beings, and as Christians, we seem to often be seeing things through “a glass smearily”.
The window panes of our lives are often so fogged up with our prejudices, the lenses of our spiritual eyes are often myopic with our narrow viewpoints, that we are unable to see things clearly.
I suspect that nearly everyone reading this has at some point made a judgment about someone before we really knew the facts. I am fairly certain that most of us have judged a situation without making an attempt to see it from someone else’s point of view.
Often, I suspect, our view of life is smeary without us even realizing that “our glasses need to be cleaned”.
Along the path that God has led Bill and me, we have had the privilege of being associated with at least a dozen or so different denominations, and have friends in several additional groups. When God first moved me outside the “box” of my childhood I was very judgmental of others because they didn’t see spiritual life exactly as I did.
God has had to “clean my glasses” numerous times to help me see others more clearly. In the last dozen or so years I have finally come to appreciate the viewpoint of other people on their own faith-journey whose background is different, but no less valid, than my own.
Every time I “see” God from someone else’s viewpoint, I have seen yet a little more of His glory, a little more of His vastness, a little more of His deep love for ALL of us humankind.
Every time I make an effort to “see” someone’s situation BEFORE I make a judgment about their behavior (reaction) I more clearly “see” their pain, their wounding, their struggle to … And every time I allow God to “clean my glasses” to see that other person I see more clearly not just how much He loves them, but how much He loves me.
Being an active part of God’s family is so simple: Love God with our entire being, Love our neighbor as ourselves. So simple; and the hardest thing He could ever ask us to do. But it is so much easier when we allow Him to “clean our glasses”, when we begin to see Him, our world, our neighbors through spiritual lenses that are no longer smeary.
Saturday, January 21, 2012
Thursday, January 5, 2012
Going Home
My husband Bill and I have been on a most interesting journey these past seven months.
When Bill retired (his second retirement) from the ministry at the end of May, it was recommended by our denomination that we absent ourselves from the country church he had pastored for the past 7 years - for at least a year. This is to give the new pastor a change to establish herself without feeling like the “old” pastor was ever looking over her shoulder. Bill and I both think this is a good idea.
This was an opportunity to visit many of the churches we have wanted to visit, but difficult when you have pastoral responsibilities. So we plotted out a journey through a dozen or so churches, adding several more to our list as we went along.
We visited local churches, we visited far flung churches where the pastor was a friend, we visited start-up churches and long established churches. We visited churches in at least 6 different denominations ranging from “charismatic” to “main line”.
We heard some great sermons, some mediocre sermons (our opinion, of course) and a couple of sermons that made up want to get up and walk out (but we didn’t).
More interesting than the sermons was the reaction of the various congregations to our presence.
Last week Bill and I had an occasion to compare our reactions to those various congregations.
Hands down, no doubt, no comparison the most loving, the most inviting, the most genuine congregation was the church in Virginia that was trying to be a presence, to be a place of ministry, to the University of Virginia, in Charlottesville.
This congregation was multi-ethnic, multi-generational, multi-functional, and several more multis. We were warmly welcomed when we entered the sanctuary (a building no longer wanted by a different church). We were hugged after the service and stayed for nearly an hour talking to several people genuinely interested in us and our journey. They knew we would probably never be back but they embraced us anyway.
Our second favorite experience was the start-up congregation pastored by a dear friend (of a different denomination) whose ministry we have followed for 20 years (he was just a KID when we first got to know him).
Once again we were welcomed, embraced, folded into the congregational body – they certainly reflected our friend’s outgoing spirit – but it was more than just a reflection.
The rest of our experience was less than satisfying (with one exception). We visited several other start-up churches (reflecting three different denominations). One would expect these to be outgoing, encompassing, warm places just by the nature of the reason for their existence – BUT THEY WEREN’T. We felt like “outsiders” during our whole visit. If we had been seeking a new church home, if we had been seeking to find out who Christ is, what this “church thing” is all about, we would have left with our questions unanswered and probably never gone back, maybe even stopped searching.
We also visited several other well-established churches (because we knew the pastor) and the feeling of being an “outsider” was, perhaps, even more pronounced.
During the season of Advent Bill wanted to attend one church for the continuity of the season, the preaching, the experience. We chose a church close to us whose pastor is a friend and whose preaching makes our hearts sing.
We attended that church for six weeks, consecutively, and, other than two couples we knew previously, no one, NO ONE made an attempt to welcome us into the fold. It was almost as if we were invisible.
We also attended a local charismatic church. Charismatic by its very definition implies outgoing, engaging, compelling. Once again, however, we felt like outsiders and left knowing that we would never attend that church again.
The exception to all of the above was when Bill was invited to preach at a church he used to pastor. It was a homecoming like we have never before experienced. But, BUT, Bill had been the beloved pastor there, and we continue to have a relationship with many in that congregation.
So, we have been pondering what to do for the next five months, and what to do after these next five months, when we got The Phone Call.
“Hi, Dotti, this is Lorna.”
She is the new pastor of the church from which Bill retired. She is the pastor we are giving time to get adjusted.
Her call was to invite us, urge us, encourage us to return to the congregation. “Everyone wants you to come back.” We knew this already because every Christmas card, every chance meeting while shopping, even several phone calls wondered when we would be back.
Lorna assured me that she is feeling so comfortable, that this is such a “good fit” that our coming back won’t threaten her in any way.
And so…we went home.
It is good to be home, it is wonderful to be welcomed and loved and valued – but we are returning to what we already had at the time we left.
I am gravely concerned about the rest of our experience “out there”.
Jesus tells His disciples, not long before His arrest, “By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” As far back as the giving of the Law, the Jews were told to “welcome the stranger in your midst” and Jesus tells the crowd gathered that the “second commandment” is to “love your neighbor as yourself”.
We were overwhelmed by the lack of love we experienced. I know there are many, MANY churches out there who do show God’s love to all who come into their midst, but I fear there are even more churches who do not.
I fear that in many ways The Church in United States is becoming a cold, sterile, dead institution.
And I wonder, just as when the Jews wandered away from “loving God with their entire being” and this grieved God, is He not grieved today with what is happening in our country?
When Bill retired (his second retirement) from the ministry at the end of May, it was recommended by our denomination that we absent ourselves from the country church he had pastored for the past 7 years - for at least a year. This is to give the new pastor a change to establish herself without feeling like the “old” pastor was ever looking over her shoulder. Bill and I both think this is a good idea.
This was an opportunity to visit many of the churches we have wanted to visit, but difficult when you have pastoral responsibilities. So we plotted out a journey through a dozen or so churches, adding several more to our list as we went along.
We visited local churches, we visited far flung churches where the pastor was a friend, we visited start-up churches and long established churches. We visited churches in at least 6 different denominations ranging from “charismatic” to “main line”.
We heard some great sermons, some mediocre sermons (our opinion, of course) and a couple of sermons that made up want to get up and walk out (but we didn’t).
More interesting than the sermons was the reaction of the various congregations to our presence.
Last week Bill and I had an occasion to compare our reactions to those various congregations.
Hands down, no doubt, no comparison the most loving, the most inviting, the most genuine congregation was the church in Virginia that was trying to be a presence, to be a place of ministry, to the University of Virginia, in Charlottesville.
This congregation was multi-ethnic, multi-generational, multi-functional, and several more multis. We were warmly welcomed when we entered the sanctuary (a building no longer wanted by a different church). We were hugged after the service and stayed for nearly an hour talking to several people genuinely interested in us and our journey. They knew we would probably never be back but they embraced us anyway.
Our second favorite experience was the start-up congregation pastored by a dear friend (of a different denomination) whose ministry we have followed for 20 years (he was just a KID when we first got to know him).
Once again we were welcomed, embraced, folded into the congregational body – they certainly reflected our friend’s outgoing spirit – but it was more than just a reflection.
The rest of our experience was less than satisfying (with one exception). We visited several other start-up churches (reflecting three different denominations). One would expect these to be outgoing, encompassing, warm places just by the nature of the reason for their existence – BUT THEY WEREN’T. We felt like “outsiders” during our whole visit. If we had been seeking a new church home, if we had been seeking to find out who Christ is, what this “church thing” is all about, we would have left with our questions unanswered and probably never gone back, maybe even stopped searching.
We also visited several other well-established churches (because we knew the pastor) and the feeling of being an “outsider” was, perhaps, even more pronounced.
During the season of Advent Bill wanted to attend one church for the continuity of the season, the preaching, the experience. We chose a church close to us whose pastor is a friend and whose preaching makes our hearts sing.
We attended that church for six weeks, consecutively, and, other than two couples we knew previously, no one, NO ONE made an attempt to welcome us into the fold. It was almost as if we were invisible.
We also attended a local charismatic church. Charismatic by its very definition implies outgoing, engaging, compelling. Once again, however, we felt like outsiders and left knowing that we would never attend that church again.
The exception to all of the above was when Bill was invited to preach at a church he used to pastor. It was a homecoming like we have never before experienced. But, BUT, Bill had been the beloved pastor there, and we continue to have a relationship with many in that congregation.
So, we have been pondering what to do for the next five months, and what to do after these next five months, when we got The Phone Call.
“Hi, Dotti, this is Lorna.”
She is the new pastor of the church from which Bill retired. She is the pastor we are giving time to get adjusted.
Her call was to invite us, urge us, encourage us to return to the congregation. “Everyone wants you to come back.” We knew this already because every Christmas card, every chance meeting while shopping, even several phone calls wondered when we would be back.
Lorna assured me that she is feeling so comfortable, that this is such a “good fit” that our coming back won’t threaten her in any way.
And so…we went home.
It is good to be home, it is wonderful to be welcomed and loved and valued – but we are returning to what we already had at the time we left.
I am gravely concerned about the rest of our experience “out there”.
Jesus tells His disciples, not long before His arrest, “By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” As far back as the giving of the Law, the Jews were told to “welcome the stranger in your midst” and Jesus tells the crowd gathered that the “second commandment” is to “love your neighbor as yourself”.
We were overwhelmed by the lack of love we experienced. I know there are many, MANY churches out there who do show God’s love to all who come into their midst, but I fear there are even more churches who do not.
I fear that in many ways The Church in United States is becoming a cold, sterile, dead institution.
And I wonder, just as when the Jews wandered away from “loving God with their entire being” and this grieved God, is He not grieved today with what is happening in our country?
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