In a conversation with Bill Griffis of our church last night, we were talking about what difference is really made by going to church. Suppose I was able to follow you as a church goer around for a whole month with a camera and a tape recorder. Then, I would follow a non-church member around for the same period. What would the difference be? To put it another way, what do I want from you as a Christian or better what does Christ want from you?
Some rather interesting answers come forth. “I am as good as anybody who goes to church.” “I don’t get a peaceful feeling when I go to church.”
What’s really wrong with modern man?
“Is not this the great Babylon I have built as the royal residence, by my mighty power and for the glory of my majesty?”(Daniel 4:30)
Why did Nebuchadnezzar build the garden?
What is man’s anxiety about their self? When Cain killed Abel it was an act that was a symbol of human relationships. With the building of the Tower of Babel, we ask the the question: “Where do we do the things we do?” So much of our politics and daily life is that we must prove ourself to be better or we will be rejected. We are lost in the wilderness in search of a name. What is the primary motivator of our life?
“The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field. Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls. When he found one of great value, he went away and sold everything he had and bought it.” (Matthew 13 44:45)
The treasure is hidden in the field. The merchant is in search of a fine pearl. In farming, we can find a great treasure. In salesmanship, we go after the pearl of the great price. What is the pearl of great price? Be not anxious for your life. You don’t have to go around proving yourself all the time. Be about your father’s business. There’s something big enough for you to do. Don’t be anxious about losing your family. “If you don’t hate your father and mother, you can’t come after man after me.”
What is the Pearl then? The treasure God has entrusted with us is the Kingdom of heaven. I must share with you and the world the good news of the Kingdom of God. The eye has not seen, nor has it entered into the heart of man what God has prepared for those who love him. What lifts us above the animal? Not the creative arts. Someone once showed me the nest of a hummingbird with its intricacy. What lifts us is the ability to love. We can forgive oneself without anxiety to others. Love says: “I have enough to give so that I will never run dry.”
John Anderson said, “There is no individual salvation in the Bible. Self-concern is not biblical.” We are called to be the servant of people. So far, too much of our energy is spent in church. If we did our work at home, our church school would be almost unnecessary.
What is our strategy as Christians in the world? Christians must get out of the ghetto. The danger of building new churches is creating new ghettos, where only Christians live. We need conflict in our church. We currently face conflict over wrong things. The present job is not another church building but a “New Church” with new possibilities to encounter God.
The healing of the church will not begin until Christ’s prayer “that we all are one” is answered. We, as Christians, must get over the idea that we are going to take over the world and that Christ is the Lord of history. That we all have to get on the bandwagon, because Christ is taking over the world.
The anthem, “I Walked Today Where Jesus Walked,” tells us of walking to Calvary, where Jesus walked. Where else did Jesus walk? He walked in the dirty field of finance where Zacchaeus was. He walked in the slums with the blind Bartimaeus. He walked with the outcasts and with Mary Magdalene. He was with the thief on the cross, and with the revolutionary Judas Iscariot.
Where do we walk today? We walk with the unwed mother and the foster child from a broken home. We walk with the poor, who are unskilled and have no jobs. We have encounters with the black and latino communities. We have summer camp with the youth. We encounter the poor and provide access to vocations and new opportunities. We pour new wine in new bottles.
“Greater love has no man than that a man puts down his life above his friends.”
Reverend Arthur Schwabe Blog 