How Far Down the Rabbit Hole
Good church service this past week about being one. As I looked around the sanctuary, I marveled (and, to be honest, chuckled a little) at how motley our crew is - by race, class, age, level of social awkwardness, and amount of facial hair, we're pretty much everywhere.
But as was poignantly observed, sharing space on Sunday morning does not necessarily a community make. We are hurting as a church, individually and corporately limping along. But such times as these are also opportunities to truly connect, to touch and to be touched.
I can recall numerous times I have been the beneficiary of this kind of community: sensitive, quick to listen, accepting without condemning. Every once in a while, I get to be on the giving side of that kind of love, and it feels good, like something we were meant to experience, even as imperfect humans on this side of glory.
Two among us are a married couple who are struggling on the mission field with the overwhelming weight of life lived in service to the very poorest. We are sending another two among us, another married couple, to send our collective regards and our prayers. The burden may or may not be lifted as a result of this visit, but at least this missionary couple will know they do not bear it without us also doing some lifting with them.
In light again of last week's tragic shootings in Blacksburg, we were also reminded of the importance of making human connections. Though a good word, it is far easier said than done. "How far down the rabbit hole do you want to go," I feel like saying when the subject of truly connecting with another human being is brought up. For we all are wounded, messy, complex souls. To make a human connection is an involving exercise, indeed.
And yet is this not what we as Christians are called to take on? Would we not be following in the footsteps of the one we call Lord, who took on human flesh and made human contact with us? Did not this Jesus hear out the full story of the bleeding woman, touch the leper, embrace the little children who others thought were a distraction from the truly spiritual things?
To the question, "How far down the rabbit hole do you want to go," it is my prayer that I and other Christians will answer, "For you, and for the sake of our God and His purposes, "We will go down that rabbit hole."
But as was poignantly observed, sharing space on Sunday morning does not necessarily a community make. We are hurting as a church, individually and corporately limping along. But such times as these are also opportunities to truly connect, to touch and to be touched.
I can recall numerous times I have been the beneficiary of this kind of community: sensitive, quick to listen, accepting without condemning. Every once in a while, I get to be on the giving side of that kind of love, and it feels good, like something we were meant to experience, even as imperfect humans on this side of glory.
Two among us are a married couple who are struggling on the mission field with the overwhelming weight of life lived in service to the very poorest. We are sending another two among us, another married couple, to send our collective regards and our prayers. The burden may or may not be lifted as a result of this visit, but at least this missionary couple will know they do not bear it without us also doing some lifting with them.
In light again of last week's tragic shootings in Blacksburg, we were also reminded of the importance of making human connections. Though a good word, it is far easier said than done. "How far down the rabbit hole do you want to go," I feel like saying when the subject of truly connecting with another human being is brought up. For we all are wounded, messy, complex souls. To make a human connection is an involving exercise, indeed.
And yet is this not what we as Christians are called to take on? Would we not be following in the footsteps of the one we call Lord, who took on human flesh and made human contact with us? Did not this Jesus hear out the full story of the bleeding woman, touch the leper, embrace the little children who others thought were a distraction from the truly spiritual things?
To the question, "How far down the rabbit hole do you want to go," it is my prayer that I and other Christians will answer, "For you, and for the sake of our God and His purposes, "We will go down that rabbit hole."
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