Here are some thoughts from a pastor of a relatively new church plant out in Portland, OR. How do his thoughts affect yours about where we're seeking to grow as a church community?
two years plus and counting...
yeah... two years plus and counting. That's about how long it takes for us all to figure out that there simply isn't any way for a church community that inhabits the sphere of reality to match up to the one that inhabits our hopes and dreams.
Two years plus and we begin to see that yes, we all hurt each other. We all disappoint one another. In fact, it's tough to spend any time at all in close proximity to someone, and not be disappointed at some point. Two years is more than enough to learn that...
More than enough time to find out how tough it is to put yourself out there to a community and not get the response you'd hoped or wished for, even if that response might have been perfectly reasonable... or unreasonable as our expectations often get.
Two years is a long time to hang in there, whether we're right in the thick of things, or hanging back on the fringes... whether we're trying hard...or not. Just long enough to set in stark contrast the differences between the church of the mind and the church we actually create.
Not thinking of anyone in particular- I promise. Just praying for our community as a whole tonight. Feeling the need- like there's some choppy water around the corner. Praying for patience with one another, for longsuffering with each other's faults, even those of the people with the title of pastor or elder. Praying for hearts that love the Body of Christ, even with its rough spots and see that facing this life and all the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune is always better with community, and so that community is worth working for, praying for and sacrificing for... even if it lets us down and disappoints us.
Just praying...
from the blog of Bob Hyatt here.
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