Author: Wick

If it wasn’t so much work, and we had an endless supply of junk we don’t need (which seems like we do at times), and we had every weekend free…..I’d like to do garage sales more often. Then I might get to know a few of the people who stop by.

I enjoy the fact that for 6 hours on Friday and Saturday, our home has a stream of visitors who range from the retired doctor with his shirt still meticulously tucked in….to the Jim-Bob type, complete with his painted over Bondo Truck.

I think that’s why…even purely sociologically (if I’m able to separate it….probably not), I really enjoy church. Almost every area of life is full of segregation, walls, either socially, culturally, physical, mental, etc. Church is the one place where, in theory at least, ANYONE is welcome to come and sit next to ANYONE. Sure they may talk about so-and-so behind their backs after they leave the building. It might not be 100% fool proof community.

But it offers to be.

It’s we, as a church body, who will decide whether we allow ourselves to be immersed in the life offered by it…or whether we will treat it the same way we treat a garage sale. A friendly greeting. Looking for something we need that someone else might have. An exchange. Leaving until the next big “sale”.

One thing, anyone could notice these days, but especially pastors I’ve talked to. People who were “church-goers” used to attend between 50-52 weeks of a year. These days, it seems even people who only come on Easter morning still consider a specific church their “community”.

This could probably all be taken the wrong way. I’m not a pastor who’s trying to guilt trip my readers into more regular attendance.

But I think there’s something to be said for making an effort to be a healthy part of what’s going on in the community of Church. I don’t think that going to church 52 weeks a year guarantees this. I remember working 8-6, and only getting weekends off. It’s nice to sleep in sometimes. But I do believe that going a few times a year, whenever we happen to be up on time, is pretty much garage shoppin’.

What’s God’s Spirit offers us in His gift of the Church…..we may not fully realize until all of creation is redeemed……but even as it stands today, it’s worth more than that.

Whether you’re a 52-weeker….or an Easter-only kinda person….how can you help your community of church become more of a community?

So, as I’ve gotten older (I know, 26 isn’t REALLY old, bear with me…it’s older than 16), my definition of “adventure” has changed. Of course, being married, and parenting bring their own sets of adventures. But I still have my personal endeavors as well. Here are a few adventures I’ve had recently:

1. Food Pantry Mondays – Our Church has a great food pantry ministry on a weekly basis. They serve around 200 bundles of food each week for free to people in need. Many of these people are either elderly or handicapped, and can use some help going through the line and walking out to their car. I’m lovin’ it. Just a brief moment in each persons’ life, but it’s definitely been refreshing. My plan is to get our youth involved on Monday’s this summer, and I didn’t just wanna “show up” with them in June…so I figured I should get involved. I don’t try and “shove the gospel” down anyone’s throat…but I try to find out something going on in their life to pray for. It’s a good exercise.

2. Working with the volunteers, I’ve gotten to know some of our seniors a bit better. In Iowa, I had a group of seniors that I played dominoes with once in a while. I’d get stomped on. But I really enjoyed hanging out with them. I’ve missed that aspect of connecting to their generation here so far. But our church’s XYZ’ers (seniors) asked me to drive the bus for an outing on Tuesday. We went to a buffet, and over to the Macon County Historical Museum (which is pretty much a Lincoln museum, with a few facts about Macon County cities). Honestly, it’s kinda like a spiritual discipline here. This is a generation that I don’t just “automatically” want to spend time loving among…not cause I don’t want to…but probably because I’m a selfish creature, and popular culture tells us they don’t have much to offer. The wealth of wisdom, stories of life, and love that comes from years (or judgment that comes from years)…is good to spend time with.

3. Had my 2nd official meeting as a member of the Decatur Parking and Traffic Commission. Apparently, the parking situation in Decatur is no way to make a profit lately. They’re losing money, and looking for ideas to at least break even. I learned a TON this week, including:
– If you’re handicapped, and live in busy area, you can apply for a handicapped space in front of your house! We approved of 2.
– If an intersection gets more than 1.5 accidents per million vehicles that pass through, they look into a stop sign or light. We approved one sign.
– Even if our city raises parking rates downtown, we’ll still be REALLY cheap.

4. I called it. Detroit won one game in Dallas, and will end things this Saturday at 12:30 CST on NBC. YOU need to watch. No excuse. And don’t get me started on ALL the BAD CALLS throughout game 4. Game ON.

Been pretty stoked about something lately, and still figuring out how to put it into words. I’ll try here. You may have heard this long ago…or you may have assumed it already….in which case, you may be less excited about it. But if you’re like me, you need to hear this at some point.

When most pastors I’ve heard preach about Jesus being crucified, dying, and rising from the grave….they do stress the importance of His being alive today. But they usually say something like “he’s STILL alive today!” (bringing on the obligatory “Amen!” shout from the congregation)

By using the word “still”, it implies that Jesus was simply revived, or…like Lazarus, came “back to life” as he was before dying. If that’s the case…why get any more excited than they got when Lazarus came back?

But we know that Jesus came back in a physical form, they were able to touch His wounds, and to walk along the road with Him, mistaking Him for a gardener even. He broke bread with them, and as soon as they recognized Him, He “became invisible from them”(greek). This implies that Jesus’ attributes after the resurrection included both physical AND spiritual elements…as never before.

As Christians (and as Jews of that time), we believe there will come a day where God will give each of us new bodies. Paul tries his best to describe these bodies in 1 Corinthians 15 (read it, it’s pretty awesome). We believe this will happen when God brings about His completion/restoration/final redemption, creating a new Heaven and a new Earth.

So why connect that with Jesus’ resurrection? It appears that what we believe WILL HAPPEN to all of us SOMEDAY when God brings in the Kingdom of God (God’s reign and rule)….HAS HAPPENED here in Jesus!! It is the Kingdom of God breaking through into our world, showing us what it will be….and beginning the work/journey of ushering in God’s Kingdom.

To those of us trying to figure out when/how the “apocalypse” is going to begin…or waiting for the “rapture” to happen so we can finally rid ourselves of all this physical world…..this tears apart those thin twigs, and slaps a solid log of hope down on ’em. IT HAS BEGUN. HERE. NOW. BECOME INVOLVED. Seek areas of being involved in God’s redeeming work, not just humanitarian aid, but actual, Holy Spirit sourced living. IT’S HAPPENING.