Lost and Found?
You know from reading this blog that I am pretty critical of the church. I must confess that I really don't like attending church very much. This is a really bad trait for a guy who is a preacher.
I have had some incredible worship experiences in church. I have had much growth from hanging with sinners. God has really worked in me when I have had to struggle with my faith. Mostly I have grown more from one-on-one time with friends over coffee than anything else.
I was challenged this weekend by a few friends. Geoff and Sandra Ryan were guests at our annual gathering for our division known as Family Camp. Geoff spoke Saturday on the lost. He used the Luke 15 text. My heart was pierced when Geoff spoke about the lost not only being like the prodigal son, lost sheep and lost coin, but when he said that the church could be lost like the Pharisees. Good people, doing the best with what they had, but so confused on what was really important.
I have a position where it is easy to be corporate. I realized Saturday that I was sliding down a slope toward the corporate mode instead of being what God wants from me. I know that He has made me a free spirit. He has asked me to be zealous in finding the lost. By that I mean, not only the sinful, but the lonely.
I had that hit home through another friend today. As I read what my friend had written about the weekend, I realized that I was not as good a friend or Christian as I could have been. I have become so conscious of appearance and so busy in my job that I have lost the ability to listen. I have become a bit unfeeling. I had become lost. I may not have been sinful. I had become neglectful of the important.
I also rubbed shoulders with my good friend Phil Laeger this weekend. He is a treasure to the church. I sat yesterday morning as he led worship in a church service. He had no idea that the songs he picked for worship were some of my favorite old hymns. In short, I was trashed at the end of worship. I realized again how lost I was. I wondered how God could love me. I wondered what God saw in me.
Then Geoff spoke again on Hebrews 11. He reminded those of us assembled that we are just like the people of Hebrews 11. We are screwed up, but God sees the potential in us. We may never be completely healed, but we can still be the child of the King.
I made a commitment this weekend to be found. I want to be found reaching the lost. I want to be found being what God wants me to be. I want to be found not conforming, not for the sake of rebelling against authority, but for being faithful to my calling which seems at times to be at odds with the Army. I want to be found being a better friend and more loving person. I want to be found thinking through my faith.
I found myself kneeling at the mercy seat this weekend. In a private act of commitment I committed to being found.
We are all lost. We often feel a sense of not belonging or that our potential is sorely lacking. Yet God finds us and appreciates our potential.
I still don't like going to church very much. I do love being part of the church.
I love it in its purest and most accepting form. I think that we have lost much of this.
This has been a very emotional couple of days. The church is a fellowship of the lost who are being found. I wonder where we lost that perspective. Have we become so lost that we have forgotten where we came from? Have we become so lost that we have chosen to take appearance over genuine love? Has form taken over function in the church? Have we come to the point where we are so corporate that we have lost our sense of being?
I have rambled a bit here. But hey, I am lost and being found! So with all of my blogs I want to know your opinion on the lost and found. What do you think?
I have had some incredible worship experiences in church. I have had much growth from hanging with sinners. God has really worked in me when I have had to struggle with my faith. Mostly I have grown more from one-on-one time with friends over coffee than anything else.
I was challenged this weekend by a few friends. Geoff and Sandra Ryan were guests at our annual gathering for our division known as Family Camp. Geoff spoke Saturday on the lost. He used the Luke 15 text. My heart was pierced when Geoff spoke about the lost not only being like the prodigal son, lost sheep and lost coin, but when he said that the church could be lost like the Pharisees. Good people, doing the best with what they had, but so confused on what was really important.
I have a position where it is easy to be corporate. I realized Saturday that I was sliding down a slope toward the corporate mode instead of being what God wants from me. I know that He has made me a free spirit. He has asked me to be zealous in finding the lost. By that I mean, not only the sinful, but the lonely.
I had that hit home through another friend today. As I read what my friend had written about the weekend, I realized that I was not as good a friend or Christian as I could have been. I have become so conscious of appearance and so busy in my job that I have lost the ability to listen. I have become a bit unfeeling. I had become lost. I may not have been sinful. I had become neglectful of the important.
I also rubbed shoulders with my good friend Phil Laeger this weekend. He is a treasure to the church. I sat yesterday morning as he led worship in a church service. He had no idea that the songs he picked for worship were some of my favorite old hymns. In short, I was trashed at the end of worship. I realized again how lost I was. I wondered how God could love me. I wondered what God saw in me.
Then Geoff spoke again on Hebrews 11. He reminded those of us assembled that we are just like the people of Hebrews 11. We are screwed up, but God sees the potential in us. We may never be completely healed, but we can still be the child of the King.
I made a commitment this weekend to be found. I want to be found reaching the lost. I want to be found being what God wants me to be. I want to be found not conforming, not for the sake of rebelling against authority, but for being faithful to my calling which seems at times to be at odds with the Army. I want to be found being a better friend and more loving person. I want to be found thinking through my faith.
I found myself kneeling at the mercy seat this weekend. In a private act of commitment I committed to being found.
We are all lost. We often feel a sense of not belonging or that our potential is sorely lacking. Yet God finds us and appreciates our potential.
I still don't like going to church very much. I do love being part of the church.
I love it in its purest and most accepting form. I think that we have lost much of this.
This has been a very emotional couple of days. The church is a fellowship of the lost who are being found. I wonder where we lost that perspective. Have we become so lost that we have forgotten where we came from? Have we become so lost that we have chosen to take appearance over genuine love? Has form taken over function in the church? Have we come to the point where we are so corporate that we have lost our sense of being?
I have rambled a bit here. But hey, I am lost and being found! So with all of my blogs I want to know your opinion on the lost and found. What do you think?
posted by Larry at 8:56 PM
7 Comments:
Wow! What an awesome testimony :) I think this is my favorite post of yours. It really came from your heart. I have missed reading your blogs this summer. Hope all is going well. I updated my blog finally so you should check it out. Miss you!
"...I committed to being found."
Wow. I think you may have something there. Seriously. I couldn't take my eyes of that sentence.
As I said to you already, great, great, great to be with you guys this weekend.
larry ~
now you're talking.
Larry,
Thanks for your blog posting.
I was just reading from a book called, "messy spirituality". Your posting helped confirm what I was reading minutes before.
Last weekend, we had a big event at the corps and community. We had many people involved in ministry from diverse christian groupings. Many of these could be labeled as Charasmatics. I try to be a bridge builder between these Christian classifications because I feel like we need to get beyond our subtle differences and work together as the body of Christ. I still get frustrated with the way we tend to carry ourselves though. I found myself feeling like I didn't fit in because I am not so charasmatic. I even felt depressed after what was a very successful event where many were served. I felt depressed because I didn't feel good enough. I guess I looked at that supposed spirituality and I didn't feel like I measured up.
Anyway, your blog helped me to get some perspective.
Thanks
saidiot.blogspot.com
First of all SAidiot, you should check out Dangerous Wonder, Mike’s prequel to Messy Spirituality. It’s one of my favourite books and, in my opinion, is much better than Messy Spirituality.
Larry,
Unbelievable that you chose to write on this today. I was just, quite literally, logging on to blog about the same thing. I still may but will also put some of my thoughts on your blog.
As you know, I also really struggle with Sunday morning church. Without community and relationships, Sunday morning is nothing more than a meeting to me and, too often, a really boring one. Back in the 50’s (and before), if I may, church worked because there was a real sense of community. Neighbours were friends, and were in constant contact and communication together, and also went to the same church. Sunday morning wasn’t a meeting, it was the church, living and worshiping in community. That’s no longer the case with people driving in from all over the place to attend. I’m frustrated that, though Sunday morning is nothing like the church recorded in the New Testament, I’m expected to go and that my relationship with God is questioned if I don’t. Bare in mind that I’m in fellowship and even Bible study with Christians all week, but if I don’t attend that Sunday morning gig, I’m out of God’s will. As you said, we’ve missed the point.
To make it even more personal, we’ve also missed the point with our vows as Salvationists. Last night my Corps Sergeant Major and his wife came over for a barbecue. Mike has a huge heart for our local church and also a huge heart for the lost. He sits on our PCC, his wife leads our worship band, and both of them are very involved with the leadership of our Corps. However, last night he shared something with me that will likely end his official service as CSM at our Corps. Mike works in the international banking community and, as a result, works with a lot of lost people. His witness and friendship to his co-workers is unmatched. They are always on his heart and mind and he is always lifting them up in prayer and asking us to do the same. Recently he and a group of men from our church, along with one of his unsaved co-workers, decided to climb 7 peaks in England as a fundraiser for a local youth ministry. After 17 hours of straight climbing, and upon making it to the top of their last peak, Mike’s unsaved co-worker pulled a bottle of wine out of his bag to toast their accomplishment. As you might imagine, the men of our Corps all declined. Mike, however, took the bottle of wine, and toasted the accomplishment with his unsaved friend. To Mike, his relationship and witness to his lost friend is the point, not some obscure vow about alcohol (that happens to be surrounded by six other vows concerning mission). Mike had no intention of offending his lost friend and saw no need to. Now the question has arose whether Mike can even be a soldier, let alone our CSM.
I’ve long said that we, as Salvationists, have very much missed the point when it comes to those stupid vows. We lose our minds over the alcohol and tobacco issue, while the other vows on mission go unheeded. Please, for the love of God, if you’re going to choose two to focus on, focus on mission, not alcohol. In fact, and by all means, come in drunk every Sunday if it means that you’ll get involved in mission!!!
I sit and watch, fascinated, as our Corps leadership takes on this journey. I’m praying that they don’t miss the point. (anybody remember that story of Jesus and his disciples eating corn on the Sabbath???)
Tim,
Wow...what a story...I would hope that I would have courage to really do what is right in that instance. I am not sure that I would. I am not sure I know what would be right for me. I don't think that I would kick the CSM out.
You are right. We do lose our minds over stuff like this. It is not because we are bad people. It is maybe because we react out the heart of legalism and never really take the time to search the heart of God.
I am sure your CSM reached a very lonely person that day. I want so much to touch the heart of people with the heart of God.
I just want to make sure that I am kept accountable through the whole thing.
Ah, the journey. I love how Jesus stays with us.
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