Thinking in Terms of Church, not Jesus

I say frequently that I see my job as a manager of the Front End of a grocery store as a way to get the owners of the store to finance my career as an ambassador of the Kingdom of God.

I make it a point to advance the mission of the store while I'm on the job...and, based on the number of promotions and raises I've received, I do that successfully.

But, my primary concern is to live out the, humanly speaking, counter-culture ways of the Kingdom of God in the world.

Two weeks ago, I blogged that Evie and I gave a rather substantial financial gift to a coworker whose husband is in poor health. They barely pay their bills when she's able to work her full, part-time, schedule and often has to take days off to accompany her husband to various appointments.  So, we explained that we gave the money to allow her to take days off without increasing their financial struggles.

She's grateful, as you can imagine.

Last week, I actually worked with her for a very brief moment while (call her Gail) was running a cash register when no customers were present.

And, in that very brief moment of privacy, she said, "So, bill, what church do you go to?"

My heart sank.

I explained that we are a part of a group that meets in our home and started to tell that story as concisely and understandably as possible when a customer appeared, and the moment was gone.

Fortunately, a day or so later, Evie and Gail saw each other while they were both shopping and Evie was able to articulate the Kingdom...the JESUS...motivation for our act.

But, gang!

Can't you see how your church focus and not-so-subtle ecclesiolatry hinders the work of the Kingdom? And, for that matter, the very place of Jesus in the world?!?!?!!!

When we perform acts of love and mercy such as this one, we explain it using the Steve Sjogen line, "We just want to show you God's love in a practical way." For me, that's not specific enough and I often make it more focused and say, "Christ's," not "God's."

Yet, as blatant as I am on the job about my connection to Jesus as my Lord, Gail didn't associate our act of mercy with Jesus.

For Gail, it was all about church. She was wondering what local church could be associated with our unusual act of mercy. She didn't understand our behavior as fruit of our love for Jesus.

Gail's not a disciple. What she knows is what she picks up from the believers she meets. And, her take on this sort of thing is that it's all about church.

Surely, for Gail, Jesus is wrapped up in there somewhere but just where isn't obvious.

Church people have made an absolute mess of the gospel.

Is it any wonder that the Kingdom's declining in the U.S. today.

We must repent.