The Anatomy of a Church

The church is the body of Christ. Sounds theologically profound, but what does it really mean? The practical interpretation is really quite simple. By virtue of what we do with our hands and feet, eyes and mouth, heart and mind, by the power of the Spirit we are Christ active in the world, continuing to do the work of the Father. We are literally the physical presence of Christ in the world. When the body is working properly—valuing each member equally—amazing things can happen. First Presbyterian Church in Downey “exercised” the body of Christ last Saturday (May 7).

A small group went to the home of one of its members and used their hands and feet, hearts and minds, eyes and ears to assist a single woman in getting her home more livable—one member, overwhelmed by all that needed to be done, encouraged by several members helping get it started. This woman is an active member of the local body.

Another part of the body was exercising at the local Street Faire. We offered prayer, played games with children, gave out prizes and information and expressed interest in the community by our presence. We met a young woman preparing to be deployed to Afghanistan, prayed for her, and pledged to be ongoing support for her while in Afghanistan—one member, overwhelmed by duty, encouraged by several members promising support. This woman is not an active member of our local body. But the body of Christ does not have geographical or organizational boundaries.

This is, perhaps, one of the greatest tests of the authenticity of the body of Christ—the impartiality of the work we do in Christ’s name. Christ poured out his life for all—Jew and Greek, male and female, slave and free. No club card required.

The anatomy of a church comprises the parts of the body functioning in the world and continuing the work and witness of Christ. By this will the world know that we are followers of Christ, that we show love for one another.

A God-Shaped Hole

It's a well-worn cliche. Every person has a place in their lives that can only be filled with God. If a person rejects God or is not open to knowing God, then that person will have a “God-shaped hole” in their lives. No matter what else he or she does to try and fill that hole, nothing will fill it. It is shaped only for God. Nothing else fits.

This is an old saying but a timeless truth. Just this week I had the sacred privilege of hearing a woman’s testimony. She reminded me that four years ago when she and I first visited over a cup of coffee, I asked her what brought her to our church. She said there was something missing in her life, a void that would not go away.

After she attended worship for some time, we had coffee again. This time she was hungry, not for food but to know more about Christ and what it meant to have a relationship with him. I encouraged her to join one of our small groups and attend adult education hour, where she could learn more about Christ but also grow in relationship to others who were seeking the same.

This week we had tea and a bowl of soup. During our lunch she asked me if I remembered what she had told me several years back. I must confess, I didn’t. Once she reminded me, of course, I remembered. Then she told me the really good news. The void is gone. She has found what was missing in her life. Christ has filled that void—that hole. It’s gone! And she was able to articulate an even deeper relationship with Christ. She said that she now knows that Christ is enough. No matter what else her circumstances, no matter what else she has or lacks, Christ is enough. His grace is enough. Wow! This is the testimony of one who belongs to and knows Jesus Christ. And now, she is sharing that experience with others whenever the opportunity presents itself.

This testimony was a gift to me. Many are the days when I wonder if anything I’m doing or saying in ministry makes a real difference in people’s lives. I know that God can use what we offer him in ministry anytime—today, next week, next year, or forty years from now. The fruit of ministry is entirely up to God. We are only called to share the good news of God’s grace with others. But oh how good it is to hear the kind of testimony that gives evidence to the fruit of the labor of ministry. It brought tears to my eyes.

I am stoked for another tour of duty! That empty void that God-shaped hole can be filled. God is at work filling it, one person at a time.

Just Beginning

I am middle aged and yet in so many ways just beginning. I am beginning to paint. I have wanted to for many years but had not taken up a paint brush since high school. Two years ago I began again. I started by painting a picture of my father who died in 2006. It was amazing how the painting just came out of me. I painted nine other portraits in the next 12 months. Wow! What an amazing experience. I found a huge part of myself I did not even know existed. I have since branched out to landscapes and other subjects. I am just beginning.

At 55 I am just beginning to write. Don't get me wrong. I have done a lot of writing in my time. I am notorious for hammering the letters right off the keyboards of my computers in a matter of months. I am a talker and consequently a prolific writer, but only of sermons, homilies, articles and letters, and documents, most for limited reading and use related to family or ministry. But 23 years ago I began getting my father's story as a WWII POW written down. I spent several years interviewing him and taking notes. The material sat for over ten years. Then 18 months ago I began in again to write in earnest. I researched, I painted, and I traveled to the places he fought and was held as a prisoner, and I wrote. It just came out of me. Like the paintings, it was like it was all inside me waiting to come out. Within the next few weeks I will publish this labor of love that has become so much more than a book about my dad's experience as a WWII POW. In writing it I discovered so much about myself and how my father's experience shaped me as a person and as a pastor. The book is about to be published but I am just beginning to write. I think there is a lot more writing in me.

I have been in ministry of one sort or another for over 35 years. I have been a pastor for almost 15 years. But I am just beginning to really trust God. I have been a high energy, hard driving, over-achieving leader but I have done so much on my own steam. And I am running out of steam. I have done so much out of a messianic complex filled with arrogance and rooted in my brokenness. I have been a workaholic out of a need to feel significant based on the world's value of productivity. (Thank you James Bryan Smith for pointing this out so clearly through your first chapter in The Good and Beautiful God!) I am just beginning to sleep well at night because I am just beginning to really trust that God can do without me a few hours a day.

The Spirit of God has lived in me since I was a young girl, but I am just beginning to learn what it means to practice the presence of God. Thirty plus years of ministry, a bible education and a seminary degree you would think I would be seasoned by now. I am just beginning to learn to be present in the moment and available to the Spirit of God for what God has in mind to do in me first, then through me if he chooses.

Middle aged and just beginning. I hope the good Lord gives me a few more years now that I am beginning to really learn.