Part of my current occupation is traveling around playing drums behind Jared Anderson (www.jaredanderson.com). I lead worship with him on a somewhat regular basis. Over the course of the last two years or so, I've traveled all over the United States with him and, even as I write this, I'm in Nova Scotia, Canada. To say the least, participating in this extension of God's work is a blessing. We visit these places to minister, but we walk away with abundant blessings that exceed what seems equal wherever we go. Traveling with him reveals to me how God works. He rises and resurrects himself within us and flows into others… only to find that the same Spirit flows right back into us. It is a sort of constant flowing stream of God; it is fluid… it saturates like water… it seeps through and soaks.
What I have to say to you today, Reader, is very simple: Open your eyes to the family of God. I feel very corny talking this way, but bear with me… I have been so blessed by the broken, awkward, sinful, and sometimes stinky family of God! Perhaps the aspect of my ministry with Anderson that has the biggest impact on me is the recognition of the enormity of the Body of Christ. I get a unique perspective that very few people get: I get to see the larger scope of the Church at large. I get to see what God is doing in and through the lives of people all around the country. What an incredible blessing! To experience the vast reach of the Spirit and to get a glimpse of the immensity of His Bride humbles me and reveals my role, my part in this grand generational parade of Christ's. There's nothing quite like it. It is as if I'm standing in some freakishly huge auditorium with hundreds of thousands of people all singing the same song and the lyrics of which are not written down or memorized but are being fed to us intrinsically. Imagine the sound of that voice! Imagine the thunderous melody of that song! With one voice we praise you, God! Glory to You in the highest! We exalt you! I mean, imagine us singing with hundreds of thousands of people. Rex tremendae! Beautiful.
The reason I'm telling you about this is to help you become aware of the gorgeousness of the Church. "The only place big enough for you, God," Jared often says, "is our hearts." To limit God to an organization, a denomination, or a building is blasphemous. We are Christ's body… we, a damaged, incorrigible, lying, group of sinners are redeemed by the Spirit's breath and are married into the body of Christ. We are His flesh, we are his artwork (Ephesians 2:5-6, 10). We, the Church, are likened to a physical body because we work in much of the same way. Peter Hiett, a passionate and poetic pastor at The Sanctuary Downtown in Denver, Colorado is one of my favorite teachers to listen to (www.tsdowntown.com). He paints it this way, "Every member of my body drinks blood from another member of my body. Every member of my body bleeds into another member of my body. Every member of my body feels the pain of every other member of my body, and participates in the joy of the whole thing" (from "Zombies and Vampires", 5/18/10). See, we all work together alongside our Father. Our lives as the Church commune eucharistically and align perfectly with the way Jesus spoke of his body: "This is my body given for you… this is my blood, which is poured out for you" (Luke 22:19-20). We partake of Christ's body. We ingest him as we feed each other. The beauty of that, Dear Reader, is a wonder that cannot be explained! I dare you to look at your church family in that way next time you walk through the doors on a Sunday morning.
Too often, disciples of Jesus leave from one community to the next in search of a perfect church organization. It is sought in vain. I agree with Eugene Peterson: "There is much naiveté regarding sin in Christian communities. For a people whose text for living is the Bible, a book in which 'all have sinned' (Rom. 3:23) is documented on virtually every page, this is an enormous irony." So, I implore you, Reader, to throw off all of those things that "harden your heart" (Hebrews 3:8) and to see the Church as God sees it. After all, it is his Bride. He, like any respectable husband, is jealously in love with his Bride… with flaws, blemishes, and all so that his grace may abound all the more (Romans 5:20).
