On Sunday, Mars Hill Bible Church in Grandville, Michigan celebrated 10 years. As part of the service, they had individuals from Grand Rapids and around the world share stories of how much God has done through this community. I didn't hear about it until today as I was a week behind in podcasts, so I didn't send them an email. But if I did, I would have tried to thank them for giving me new dreams about what it means to be a Christian and the Church. I think I would have mentioned some of these things that God has been teaching me through their words and actions.
Love is more than an emotion or vague good idea. Love should be how we look at our friends and enemies. Love is how we should respond to the circumstances that don't go how we expect and the people that hurt us. Love overcomes hate. Love is how God is redeeming everything. Love sacrifices itself. And nothing can stop it, so in the end, after fear and doubt and anger and sickness and death have exhausted all their efforts, love wins.
That when people don't agree with you, or they attack you, or so hurtful things about you, you don't have to defend yourself or prove that you are right, but that sometimes the best response is to smile and say "Grace and peace to you", because the things that separate us are far, far smaller the God who loves all of us.
That the most hurtful and dangerous thing to do is to start dividing people by who is in (or right) and who is out (or wrong), and begin to treat one group of people differently than another- that's hell. We might be terribly uncomfortable one day if we share the wedding feast of the lamb in heaven, and find "those people" at our table.
That Jesus broke himself open and poured himself out as a good gift. And that as Christ-followers, Jesus has invited us to break ourselves open and pour ourselves out to the people around us. To "do this in remembrance of me."
That Jesus thinks we can be like him and do the things he does.
That the Church should be the safest place in the world. If you can't be honest about your failings and struggles with a church community, then something is terribly wrong, because the very point of the Church is to carry each other and love people.
And when you are failing and can only see darkness and have fear and doubt and pain and feel worthless and unloved, you don't have to go through it alone, but there are people who can daily offer you grace and peace. There is no condemnation, only joy, acceptance, every kind of imaginable good, wholeness, rest, all as freely given gifts from God.
That worrying about what will happen tomorrow will choke the life out of today, which is all we have anyway. And that wealth always promises that a little bit more will be enough, and it always comes up empty.
That our purpose and value comes solely from being and never from doing. We need to rest and take time to do nothing, and learn that even then we are still loved and accepted.
That God always hears the cries of the oppressed.
That everything is spiritual, God is not angry but he is Green, Jesus is brilliant and he wants to save Christians, and the Church, man, isn't she beautiful. ;)
That we don't need to know where we are going or why. The central, recurring theme of the Bible is a journey of God rescuing his people from slavery, teaching them how to love him and love each other, and forgiving them and restoring them when they fail so they can try again. And even if our journey hasn't lead us where we want to be, God gives us what we need for today, everyday, and he is walking with us. We can learn to stop obsessing over control of our lives and instead have faith.
That cynicism is a dead end, and the what this desperate, broken, cynical world needs most are people willing to believe that things can get better. That God hasn't given up on his creation.
I can't even begin to think of everything that I've learned since I started walking with Mars Hill 3.5 years ago (and I put up a bunch of my favorite messages here). I have a much wider, deeper, richer understanding of God than I used to. But even more important than that is the deep healing that God has been doing to my heart through this church. I may have only been to one Sunday gathering in those years, but Mars Hill is not about what happens for two hours on Sunday. Mars Hill is a community, and I'm part of that community even if we are separated by a couple thousand miles.
So to you, my brothers and sisters of the Mars Hill community- thank you, and grace and peace be with you.
No comments:
Post a Comment