I’m warning you that if you want to have a relational community, a community of friends, a community where people are free to be authentic, honest and open, a community where there’s a collegial effort to share the gathering times, then you are in for chaos! It’s going to be messy. I promise!
It’s not going to be messy for a couple of reasons. One is that you will inevitably have a collection of diverse individuals that are full of surprises… some welcome, some not. But then again, it depends who you are. More about that in a sec. For instance, because my messages aren’t packaged presentations but more conversational in nature, sometimes someone will say something that will totally derail the discussion with some whacky idea. But then again, it depends who you are. But more about that in a sec. Or, if someone decides they’d like to try out the tambourine during the singing but don’t have a lick of rhythm, you have to deal with the sometimes humorous embellishments to the music. But then again, it depends who you are. But more about that in a sec. Or, sometimes during the singing, someone might feel he has something important to share with the community, so he comes up and dominates the stage for a while, sometimes killing the vibe that has been built over the last several minutes with just the right music. But then again, it depends who you are. But more about that in a sec.
But the other reason why it is going to be messy is that it depends on who you are. Some people don’t mind the intellectual derailments, preferring diversity of opinion or enjoying the fact that the authoritative voice (mine) can be challenged or complimented or changed. Some people don’t notice the off-beat tambourine because they don’t have rhythm themselves, or it’s their son, or they love the fact that the band, which used to be elitist, is just that unrestricted now. Some people appreciate the people who sometimes dominate the stage and share what’s on their hearts because they are more emotionally expressive than I am, or they actually do happen to be in touch with issues that are current in peoples’ lives and address these with edifying words. But not everybody appreciates these things all of the time. Including me!
You see, in all these cases (and these kinds of things happen all the time in our community) these things only wreck the mood if I have an agenda I am trying to fulfill, a goal I am trying to reach, a vision I am trying to materialize. The problem with my philosophy (and most people in our community agree with this): everybody can play, is (and this is where people have issues): anybody can play. I could sterilize Sunday morning to where the singers lead their part with explicit instructions to the community that they are not to interfere. Then I can get up and speak with the firm understanding that I alone am permitted to speak uninterrupted. But then, we wouldn’t be who we are, would we? But my, it would be cleaner!
What if the point of community was just to be community that is working towards being a functional, healthy and whole community, a small model of what unity in diversity looks like, a local expression of the Body with all its members? What if the whole point was to appreciate the diversity, encourage it, nurture it and practice it, in spite of our personal preferences, opinions and tastes? Although I’m convinced that this is true, I’m still not sure it is possible.
The fine art photo is the creation of my friend Howard Nowlan. It captures for me the interplay of smooth and rough.
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If we have been brought into a wide and spacious place, then why is every attempt made to limit us to narrow and confined places? Ever since I can remember there were constant attempts to break me, bridle me, saddle me, drill me and ride me. So many things have the tendency to restrict our experience, our thinking, and our life. Instead of helping us to fall more in love and to appreciate the world and all the beauty that is in it, we are taught to remove ourselves, restrain ourselves, restrict ourselves, regulate ourselves and refine ourselves. We are to have life and to have it more abundantly. I don’t think that’s talking about beyond the grave. I think that’s talking about fullness of life now. But instead of living with abandon, we abandon living.
Just some random thoughts:
Even though I poke fun at the idea of “sheep” being an analogy for church people, I still find lots of value in it. Here’s just a sample of 10 pointers I’ve taken from the 23rd Psalm for me as a pastor (which is originally taken from the word “shepherd”):
You see this tree, how beautiful he is. He is very tall and stands on a hill just outside my church study. I’ve looked at him every day for years, but only today did I notice him. You may be wondering why I call him “him”. I don’t know. But a good friend of mine a couple of years ago pointed that out to me when I was showing her another tree I admired. I said, “He’s my favorite tree!” She got a kick out of me calling him a “he”. Why did I just notice this tree today? I don’t really know, but I love him and think he is so beautiful. He is not perfect. There are broken branches everywhere, and he is sparse here and there. He is top-heavy. But he is uniquely beautiful just as he is! I felt him saying today that he needed me to paint him. I feel like painting him. So expect me to come up with a watercolor of this tree in the next little while.
I wrote these 10 points for myself, and thought I would share them with you today. Our friend Nato took his own life just weeks ago, and he’s left behind not only some precious memories, but some pretty serious thinking as well. So, although these are for me, listen in if you want:
artist. cartoonist. teacher.
