Just about everyone knows that Church is not a building, even though that is what most people (even believers) think of when someone says the “C” word. Of course, it’s not really something you go to. Instead, it’s meant to be a gathering of fellow believers who meet with God and encourage one another to keep going on this wonderful, narrow road while sharing Hope with others in word and deed. But sometimes, when the right circumstances come together, a different kind of Church can happen in some unlikely places—where the “called out ones” actually get called out. Even on a Sunday.
Last weekend was such a time. Plans had been made in advance for spending several days on the Maine coast, partly to fulfill an obligation and partly to get a change of scenery. In the back of mind were plans to gather with fellow believers at some local Down East “C” building come Sunday. Instead, I cut all of those plans short and hustled back home in time to participate in a 5K run/walk to benefit teen mental health and suicide awareness.
On a Sunday. A Sunday morning, even, when my body and soul were used to gathering with the saints and were pulling hard in that direction....
...It felt weird. It felt wonderful. It felt a bit like being that salt seasoning and light carrying that Jesus taught His followers to be in Matthew 5:13-16.
I do not know exactly when or how this particular mission grabbed my heart, but when it did, it hit hard. The more I heard and read about it, it crushed my heart to think that many young people felt so alone, so hurt, so isolated by COVID, so unaccepted (by others and themselves), so fearful of world conditions and things in their own little world, that they would think no one really cared. That there seemed to be no hope, no way out. To then keep it all stuffed down inside themselves in silent pain.
A guy’s DNA is to want to fix things, and fix all what was wrong for these young people. But in this case, there are very few fixing options for anyone. Until I remembered that Someone came for all of that, and cared for all of that, and that all that going to the “C” gathering-with-believers experience had stirred up a passion for things I knew I could and wanted to do—to pray, and to listen/“be there” in some way. And that 5K was one small but practical way to “be there” in person and for those providing resources, and to listen to stories, and to try to put names with faces of students who were rallying to do the same for their friends so I could pray. Even make it a habit to pray for the middle and high schools as a whole whenever I drive by.
“Why this mission, and why now?” It’s something many believers ask themselves. Only God knows. Seasons come and go, and so do the eternal things that God will suddenly pour into our heart out of nowhere with a sort of burning. And the only explanation I can come up with is that the more time you take to get to know, and listen to, and seek to follow the greatest Light of the world of all time, the more He becomes the motor that drives your thinking, your passions, your interests, and your everyday interactions—especially with those who find going to the “C” word on Sundays a very foreign idea.
Kind of like, that’s the whole point of the gospel.
Because nearly 900 years before Jesus, there was a prophet named Isaiah who described what His mission would be all about. And in Luke 4, the Light of the world Himself not only confirmed it, but passed the baton of salt and light on to all believers down through the ages to carry for as long as we have life and breath…
To go to church on Sundays, yes, but much more than that— to be church with feet on.
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For vitamins beyond Sunday, see the Day Starter morning devotionals on Facebook at: www.facebook.com/renewchurchhancock
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