This Week from Mitch
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
As part of my work, I sometimes consult with churches who want to improve the health of their community. We examine together, often with the vestry or a small group, a myriad of metrics to help them think about ways their church can grow, not just numerically, but also spiritually. Usually, these consulting projects have a familiar pattern to them.
The business-minded people often gravitate, because it is in their comfort zone, to finance. They focus on raising more money and cutting expenses. Those who do pastoral ministry, like our lay chaplains, eucharistic visitors, and note writers, focus on how the church can better care for each other. Like the business folks, this is their language of comfort. The mission folks focus on mission, the Christian education leaders focus on children and young families, and so on and so on. Each group focuses on improving their own particular area.
One technique I have developed for breaking up this habit is a question I love to ask. I often ask them to picture an unlikely friendship that they, through the church, have witnessed. By unlikely friendship I mean a friendship that crosses divides. The 80-year-old with peppermints in his suit coat pocket to whom little kids flock, the teenager who drives an elderly friend home from church, the bible study with people from all different backgrounds, the athlete and the drama student, the police officer and the formerly incarcerated person. I ask the church to think about these sorts of friendships, pairings that only God could put together. After they have thought of them, I ask them to share them from a place of thanksgiving. "I give thanks for..."
The Kingdom of Heaven looks a lot like the friendship between sinner and saint, young and old, rich and poor. The kingdom of heaven looks a lot like a church that values these types of relationships. It is through God that we are able to love our neighbors as ourselves. I give thanks for St. Martin's where "all are welcome." I give thanks today for our unlikely community that God has knit together.
In Christ,
Mitch
