Well, that about says it all, doesn't it?
Of course, it's not perfect. It's impossible for a congregation made up of imperfect people to be perfect. In fact, one guy in our former Sunday morning small group essentially told me that my gifts weren't welcome in "his" Sunday school class. No big. We brushed the dust of that experience off our feet and found a group that's a much better fit for our spiritual gifts and our desire to invest in others.
I was looking through our new church directory. Our pictures aren't in it; we'd just started going there when they were taking the pictures. Being horrible with names, having faces and names together for people I genuinely like is really helpful. It was also rather eye-opening, as I found out more about the people who I normally only see in isolation. I saw a bunch of women who are single moms, that I didn't realize are single moms. It's just never come up. They're professionals, loving moms, nurturers and friends. I also noticed a few other things...
(1) There were people in the directory who had their pets in their pictures, which I thought was cute.
(2) There was one picture of three young ladies, probably roommates.
(3) Some pictures were richer for knowing the stories of the people in them.
(4) All the pictures are of families - some with missing persons due to divorce, death or deployment; some with pets; some are families of the heart, even if they aren't blood relatives.
That's our church - one large family, all of us striving to face inside the circle of Christian community, facing God and facing each other.
What makes family for you? Of what family or families are you a member?
Friday, June 25, 2010
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