A four-part study on the nature of the church
By Dr. Michial O. Lewis, Executive Director, Plantersville, Inc.
Part 1: “Formed By God, Recognized By Ross Bridge”
Texts: Matthew 6:9-13; 1 John 1:3
Today I begin a four-week class we’re calling “In Ross Bridge as it is in Heaven.” I created that title as a summation of the“Church at Ross Bridge” story. What is emerging is the realization that the Church at Ross Bridge is a company of Christ-followers who have been summoned (called out) to be assembled together in a new way in order to live in the midst of Ross Bridge as strangers who represent God’s kingdom intentions. The theme for this series is God’s transformational activity embodied in the midst of the local community through the agency of the local church. To put it another way, God is up to something in Ross Bridge, and we are proof of it, witnesses to it and agents of it. We have been placed here, in this brand-new neighborhood, to demonstrate in our actions, our relationships, and our words that God wants to know the people of Ross Bridge, God wants to be in fellowship with the people of Ross Bridge, and God wants to transform the people of Ross Bridge. God has proven that in Jesus Christ. The goal of God’s transformational activity is for all of us collectively to be fully mature, fully developed within and without, and fully alive like Christ. The goal is for us to experience together, right here in Ross Bridge, God’s shalom…, “Nothing broken, nothing missing.”
FORMED BY GOD
A sprouting acorn illustrates our new church’s journey. An acorn is the seed for a mighty oak tree. Mysteriously, everything needed for the full development of the oak is contained in that tiny seed. But there is a long process to get from acorn to oak. The seed has to fall into the rich soil (be buried), send out roots for anchorage and nourishment, and germinate. In time a shoot emerges, and for the first time, an oak tree is recognizable to the horticulturist. With the proper amounts of sun and rain, over time, the shoot becomes a sapling, a tree, and ultimately, a mature oak tree, bearing fruit suitable for reproduction leading to forestation. The goal of the acorn is clear from the start – to become a mighty oak.
If a church is an authentic faith community, that is, if it has come about as a result of God’s activity, then it, too, has a goal from the start – to be a full-blown expression of God’s kingdom in the midst of the place where it is planted. From the beginning it will proceed through all the healthy growth stages until it becomes an authentic representation of the kingdom of God right here. We all express hope for this each time we say the Lord’s Prayer, don’t we? “Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed by thy name, thy kingdom come…” How? “On earth, as it is in heaven.” Thy kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven. Do you believe that can happen? I do. I believe that’s what is happening here. CRB is living proof that God’s kingdom is plunked down right here in Ross Bridge, and we’re putting them on alert. We are saying, “Something’s got a hold on us, and we know it’s a “God thing,” and we know it’s going to change Ross Bridge as it has changed us. So please join us. We’d love to have you onboard. ”
In the coming weeks we are going to see, from many different places in the Bible, that God’s plan for bringing about the kingdom of God on earth (and in our case, in Ross Bridge) as it is in heaven is by means of the living, organic, mysterious, beautiful, local church. Not a static church frozen in time, but a dynamic faith community ever changing, ever growing, ever becoming more mature and more true to its original seed intentions. A healthy full-grown oak tree enjoys many years of fruitfulness in its setting, and it produces countless offspring oak trees. So an acorn contains the potential not just for an oak tree, but for a forest of oaks that can permanently transform the landscape. I want you to think of CRB not as a new church with the potential to become an influential church, but as a new church with the potential to produce a forest of local churches (expressions of God’s kingdom) that will permanently transform Alabama. It is because we embody God’s activity that Ross Bridge will become more like heaven.
RECOGNIZED BY ROSS BRIDGE
Now, let me break this down a little bit more. From the outset, we are comfortable with who we are at CRB as a faith community. I think an oak tree is comfortable being an oak, don’t you? It doesn’t waste any time wishing it could be a weeping willow or a blue spruce. We are comfortable being a church. We’re not going to waste time trying to be a political action committee or a shopping center or a spa. We’re not here to impress anybody, to make a name for ourselves, or to prove anything. And we are not here to build buildings to make people comfortable. That’s what David Murrow calls “Velvet coffin Christianity.”[1] I love the quote by Grace Murray Hopper that says, “A ship in port is safe, but that is not what ships are built for.” Ships are not built to be safe in port; they are built for exploration and transport. Contrary to popular opinion, churches are not built to make people’s lives easy, comfortable, fun and painless. It is not for making people rich, healthy, beautiful, powerful, and right (even though that’s the impression you get from religious T.V. and radio programs). God builds churches as agents of transformation. They are for bringing the kingdom of God on earth as it is in heaven.
What Hoover needs more than anything else is a real opportunity to know what God’s intentions for human beings are. They need to get a present foretaste of the coming eternal life. They need to have real people living right in their midst, who have a real relationship with God, telling them honestly what it is like to live this way and inviting them to join in. That’s what 1 John 1:3 says.
And did you notice? That is what Psalm 116 and 1 Peter 1:17-23 say also. Ps. 116 says, not once, but twice, “I will fulfill my vows to the Lord in the land of the living,” and, “I will fulfill my vows to the Lord in the presence of all his people… in your midst, O Jerusalem.” And 1 Peter 1:17 says, “Live your lives as strangers here in reverent fear.” 1 John 1:3 is simply John’s testimony that they were doing just that. John and the other followers of Jesus assembled there were saying, “Here we are, in your midst, living lives that seem strange to you because our actions and relationships are formed by God, not by popular culture. We want to tell you how good it is to live this way and, most importantly, we want to invite you to live this way with us. It is too good to keep to ourselves! So come have real fellowship with us, and our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ.
What will the people of Ross Bridge see? If God has his way, they will see people who are learning together to love one another like Jesus loved, to forgive like Jesus forgave, to enjoy a quality of life that Jesus called abundant. Jesus heard God’s voice at his baptism saying, “You are my son whom I love; in you I am well pleased.” Jesus believed God and knew who he was. That is what formed his identity. And Jesus came to share his identity with you and to tell you that you are beloved sons and daughters of God. That is the truth of your identity whether you feel like it or not.
Henri Nouwen said, “You’re sent into this world to be a people of reconciliation. You are sent into this world to believe in yourself as God’s chosen one and then to help your brothers and sisters know that they also are beloved sons and daughters of God who belong together.”[2] In the world’s view, when you are chosen, that means someone else is not chosen. But that’s not the way it is in the heart of God. In God’s economy, if you are chosen, then you have eyes to see the chosen-ness of others. If God blesses you, you become a blessing to others. “In you, God embraces the whole human family. You exist for others.”[3]
In our scripture passages today, we are issued a challenge. In this defining period in the life of CRB, this period of our emergence, let’s receive it as the challenge to the church. The challenge is to hear God’s voice telling us who we are, the people of God. And as remarkable as that seems, to believe it, and to submit to God’s transforming work on us and in us until we are able to be the people of God together as he intends. And always to remember that we are the people of God, not just for our benefit, but for the benefit of everyone else.
Today CRB is emerging. God grant that it may be clear to everyone that this is God’s work on their behalf. Let’s proclaim to everyone in Ross Bridge what we have seen, heard, and experienced, in order that they can share in this fellowship which we share with God in Christ.
1 David Murrow, Why Men Hate Going to Church; Nelson Books/Nashville, 2005.
2 Henri Nouwen, Finding the Way Home; The Crossroad Publishing Co./New York, 2001, p. 130.
3 Ibid, p. 131.
