I was talking with a woman that I consider similar to Naomi (biblical book of Ruth) yesterday and she called me a floater. You see, I’m one of those folks that doesn’t have a (c)hurch home. And that’s because I left the “home” that I was attending in a quest to take a look at the entire Body of the (C)hurch that’s inside all of Charlotte.
Last week, I was invited to a lunch where I got to sit with some pretty notable (c)hurch leaders here in Charlotte. They came together in the spirit of Jesus’ prayer in John 17 (verses 20-26 specifically) to work together for a picture of Christ in Charlotte that would essentially prove by the way of unity that Jesus is Lord.
My beginning of my day yesterday was to visit a (c)hurch that I’d never been to before. I was invited there by some people that I met as I was beginning my adventure working MMM full-time. They liked the idea of MMM and thought that it would be a good idea for me to connect with their ministry and get a feel for what they are about.
Last night I sat with one of my little friends and read to her chapter 1 of Winne the Pooh on my new iPad. I really liked that this was the default book included, and since she’s just about at reading age, it would be a good time to just sit with her and read. Between the words that she knew and didn’t know, and some of the interplay of the pictures and songs, I just wanted to show my little friend a good time in reading.
If we allow ourselves the moments and the opportunities, we will see a much larger picture of the (C)hurch than what is shown to us by our normal eyes. There are so many small moments that demonstrate the various “body parts” that make of the Christian body that we can sometimes get lost in the traditional display (for example, I know that’s a person because I see something walking upright with arms and legs).
If there’s anything that I’ve realized in my years as a Christian, and definitely in my years of living, its that the final product is always harder to see when you restrict yourself to just what you know. When you take those side-roads into relationships and depictions of relationships, you offer yourself a chance to get a different perspective of the entire scene, without the fuss of filtering so many opinions.
She was right though. I do float. But, only for the reason of taking a look at what the Body looks like, so that I can tell the story to others about why this life is worth more than the honey from bees.
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