As I've noted many times, I have a non-parish priest job. And, I see myself, in all of my life, but intentionally, and specifically, on my job, as an ambassador of the Kingdom of God.
When I've mentioned my role as an ambassador of the Kingdom, I've normally been thinking theologically, advocating what I do as a much more biblically oriented way to live than the life I once lived, as a pastor or parish priest and as a provider of religious products and services to be consumed by a passive laity.
In this post, I'll take a different view and describe a way my job as a manager of the Front End of a grocery store functions.
There are nearly 300 people employed by the company and 50ish of them are coworkers in my department of my store.
One of them, call her Jenny, is a devoted follower of Jesus. She loves the Lord and is wonderfully open and transparent about her walk as a Jesus-follower.
She has a powerful devotional life about which she speaks frequently to me and to others. She cares deeply about biblical truth, specifically about how to live out biblical teaching. She, as Jesus commands, seeks first God's kingdom and His righteousness. She struggles openly over the life she lives and is honest about her failings when she sins...or thinks she's sinned.
We have a lighthearted relationship and I consider her to be an ambassadorial colleague on the job.
The degree to which I have impact on the people I work with is greatly enhanced by Jenny's presence as a fellow Kingdom of God ambassador.
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One other important fact about her: Jenny doesn't, uh, "go to church."
She has drifted in an out of one of our gatherings and would be more involved, I'm certain, if we cared to make the point of inviting her.
She was going to a church that would be the dream of CGGC mountaintoppers and drifted away from it and, and we've talked about this often, Jenny has no desire to hook up with that, or any other, church.
As I point out, as consumed as many people are these days with the church, Jesus wasn't big on church. Three of the four Gospels don't even contain the word yada, yada, yada.
But, when Jesus does talk church, one thing He says is that when two or three are gathered in His Name, He's there.
I have come to conclude that, based on that line of Jesus' thinking, the church is present for Jenny and me...and there are others...on the job...
Because of the way we approach our job.
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Anyway,...
It seems to me that that there are more and more people like Jenny.
And, I don't know exactly what to think about that.
I do know that in the Church of God movement days, the Church of God was concerned first and foremost with connecting people to Jesus and, only after that, getting those people to church and to a church established on the New Testament plan.
And, really, isn't that what we see in the ministry of Jesus who almost never talked about the church?
The Gospels say that Jesus' ongoing message was a call for people to repent and believe the good news. He called individuals to be disciples. And, he acknowledged that there would be a church. But, he was far less interested in the church than in repentance and belief and the life of a disciple.
I think that Jenny has it right. She tells me that someday, maybe, at some future time, she just may reconnect with a church and go to church. But, that's not her priority. Yet, clearly, going to church doesn't seem to be essential to the strength and vitality of her faith.
And, as I say, she's not alone. There are more, and more, and more people like her all the time.
As I live in the world, it seems to me that the American church, with so much focus on itself and, really, so little thought of Jesus, is missing the whole point.
And, that more and more lovers of Jesus all the time, get the point that the church is missing the one thing that is most important, Jesus.
We all need church.
But, I doubt, more and more all the time, that you or I need to "go to" an organized, institutional church.
If you do go to an organized, institutional church, I think, you need to empower yourself to engage the Jennies of the world.
I believe that they grasp something about Jesus that probably you don't.
So, what value do you place on the gathering that I believe you still call ‘faith’ in the kingdom and in your own life?
ReplyDeleteI’d recommend the book I just finished - misreading scripture through western eyes.
To be frank, i think if the focus is on individual disciples, you’ve not understood the Bible at all.
Scripture is community from ‘it is not good for man to be alone’ to a gather ‘of every nation, tribe and tongue In the middle is Israel, the community that Jesus gathered during his ministry, and the church.
Solo ambassadors have no place in the New Testament. We think of Paul as a solo operator but find that he was distraught without companions.
The problem is that what we’ve presented is not biblical community but something else. We have something that we call church, but we’ve tried it without calling people to die to themselves. Instead we’ve made it all about them. What people want. What serves them This is tragic and must be repented of.
But to say that what really matters most is how you individually live misses the entire point of the Bible in my reading. Of course each person matters, but the community matters more
The problem isn’t church The problem is church that doesn’t understand and live as a community of ambassadors of the kingdom.
Only Christian community can give an adequate foretaste of the kingdom that is to come. You cannot offer it adequately yourself, no matter how faithful you are. Your friend Jenny helps you share it more than you could alone
I suspect that your regular home gathering offers it best
Dan,
DeleteThanks for your well thought out comment.
I've not read the book, so I can't comment on it.
My understanding of the ministry of Jesus begins with the prediction of the coming of the New Covenant, which the Lord gave to Jeremiah. As I understand it, in the New Covenant, the most important relationship one of God's people can have is with the Lord.
The Lord promised a direct and personal relationship with each of His people: "They will all know me."
It is for that reason, I believe that when Jesus used the word disciple, it was almost always in the singular and why three of the four Gospels ignore the church.
The direct and personal relationship with Him is at the core of the New Covenant.
And, as I argued, there is a very real sense, rooted in the way Jesus used the word church that the church is present for me pn my job.
Your comment that solo ambassadors have no place in the New Testament really disturbs me.
Are you suggesting that, if there were no other disciples at my workplace that I shouldn't live for Him and be an ambassador of the Kingdom?
On the other hand, I believe that your description of the dysfunction of today's church in creating community is apt and well stated.