>I was talking the other day with my brother about the path the children of those of us in the non traditional church have to travel... we agreed that the next generation will have a strange and difficult road. As if our generation was and is not strange and difficult enough. :)
He commented on an interesting conversation he had with a 20 something yr old brother who has visited several of our churches and been around a bit. > He said that he wants church life and has seen a lot of the churches in our circles, but they don't seem to really work.
I think that is an interesting observation or thought. This young brother said that we( my generation)have taken a lot of ground and that he hopes that they (the next generation) will take a lot more. He said that they (the next generation) needs us. Our experience was and is of great value and he hopes that we could find the next mountain peak together. My brother (of the older generation) was encouraged to see the interest and conviction, the desire that some young believers have to press on into the heights and depths of Jesus Christ, as am I.
Yes, our generation, and I'm not really talking about age here but about life experience in the church, has definitley taken some ground but the taking isn't over for us. Some of us are still pressing onward. Funny that that younger brother (or anyone we know in our circles for that matter) is looking for something that "works". I guess I did too at his age. I wonder what "success" he is thinking of? Probably a visible one...which is not really a very good measuring stick since everything we "see" with our natural eyes is temporary anyway. Even the "mountain" image and the "taking ground" implies "getting somewhere" or success. But I think it depends on whether or not you have eyes to see - spiritual eyes...Every day I see saints who are finding Him, knowing HIm, and breathing Him into their daily lives. They are being built together into a House for God Himself to live in, they actually make a difference in unseen realms and sometimes in visible ones.
When you see with natural eyes it seems that God is always starting over and never accomplishing very much but maybe that is just how things appear in the visible realm, eh? Could it be that His building and purpose are unseen by human eyes?.....
So I'm not really sure that attaining something or finding something that "works" is truly the goal for Him or for us in this life. I think of the words of a song written in the heart of the church during a time of deep discovery of the Lord.... "success means nothing, failure the same".
Perhaps it has nothing to do with visible attainment, success or failure...perhaps it is the pursuit of Him.
May the generations that come to follow after us in the pursuit of our Lord be less focused on accomplishment and actually "see" more of the invisible building and purpose of God.
8 comments:
Thank you for your reassuring comments. I appreciated them. I will be back soon in the mix of things.
I'm not sure what it is the young brother is seeking. Surely the Lord has not been without the manifestation of his church, his body. Since he does not live in time and space, he says that it is finished, done with, kaput! Perhaps it is vision that is off. Looking for something that looks successful or even prosperous. I don't know but I do know what she looks like here on earth. Every once in a while I see her with a jolt, but daily I see her in a little group of saints here in Arlington, Texas. Those who have given up "stuff" to live close and catch a glimpse of their Lord on the earth today. Lord, you are more precious than gold. You are adorable!
What an exciting time! The passion of a new church family is so special. Some Churches have become so entreanched in a way of life that they have forgotten the passion that they started out with. Keeping the focus on the right thing will always be successful even if it is not in "people numbers".
You said it, sistah.
Sometimes I wonder how often people actually look at Jesus, and what he really spent his time doing.
He spent the majority of his time loving his dad, and hanging out with 12 guys.
I can, no WILL waste the rest of my life happily in the pursuit of this standard.
wow. great post, cheryl. really awesome. thanks for posting.
There IS a house being built up in the heavenlies, and He IS building up his house here on earth as well.
and it's nice to be a part... no matter how it 'looks' or 'works'.
Amen, siser! We stand in Him. And the next generation will have their chance to find out how well things "work" down here!
"If you can meet with triumph and disaster, and treat those two imposters just the same..."
-Kipling
My dad has been a pastor for most of my life...in a traditional, conservative church. I'm in the stage of wanting something real, I want to connect with people for real. In church I can remember wanting to just speak up and say, "yeah but" or "what if?" and I just didn't feel the freedom to do so. I have every once in a while, and it has felt so refreshing, but it almost takes everything within to do that. Well, the writing project is along the lines of some of your thoughts. I want to understand things. Right now I am reading my Bible and going through and putting question marks everywhere I have questions....and I want God to answer them for me. Before, I have ignored the Bible because I had the questions, now I am reading because I need to accept the fact that I have questions, so I can get past that. Anyway, again...enough babbling. I hope you have a great week. Oh...and I will give you a prayer request. In relation to your daughter getting married. I am dating someone and have been for a year. We are planning on getting married. But my sister's weddings were so expensive that I don't feel like I can expect my parents to have a financial part, and I don't think we will be able to afford much of anything. Sometimes I try to tell myself that this is ok...but other times I feel like I want it to be, u know..like the whole childhood dream thing. In a way, I don't feel like I deserve that. But just pray that it will all work out the way it is supposed to. I want to be a good steward of money, but at the same time I don't want to just give up on everything. ok, later.
I think you can have a lovely wedding without spending a fortune and you might be surprised to find that your parents want to help in some way...maybe not carry the entire burden of a big wedding but I would think as a parent I would feel left out if I wasn't contributing something, maybe that's just me. Anyways, I'll lift you to the Lord in that situation.
AS for the whole church thing..most everyone in the house churches we fellowship with have a lot in common with you. They have grown up in some traditional form of church..either Prostestant, Orthodox, or Catholic, we even have some Jewish believers.. and all of them have been burnt on religion. You've probably heard that saying "the Christian army is the only one that kills their wounded". Well many of us have experienced just that...and we had questions too, big ones :-). All of us loved the Lord and really wanted Him, just not the trappings of religion...so somehow over the years we have found our ways to these little house churches...and they are not really even like conventional "house churches" either. So many of those are just traditional churches transplanted to a non-traditional house.
I find the way we meet to be a very different perspective on "church" and incredibly freeing. A place of acceptance where a believers contribution to the whole is valued and necessasry. anyway..enough babbling as you say.
God isn't afraid of your questions. Ask away :) Just be prepared to be surprised. :) He's got some amazing answers.
Thanks for the reply! Interesting. Yeah...that is the thing about asking questions. Sometimes, most of the time, we don't get the answers we want or expect.
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