i was online this morning trying to find the time and location of the Assemblies of God church i had heard about in Southfield…
Suddenly my search was interrupted by a phone call from someone i don’t know who was facing a bit of a crisis [her son who is in South Africa has recently run into some bother and she is not in the country] and asked if we could help out. [She knew of us through a friend of a friend and we had recently offered to help if a situation like this came up].
So i jumped in my car and sped across town [and back again and across again, shtupidt gps!] and connected with the guy and brought him home…
With the moral of the story being i didn’t get to church today…
Or did i?
i didn’t really think of any of this at the time or during today, but as i sat down at my computer, this story that Jesus tells, found in Luke 10, came to mind:
30 In reply Jesus said: “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he was attacked by robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. 31 A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side.32 So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. 33 But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. 34 He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, brought him to an inn and took care of him. 35 The next day he took out two denarii[c] and gave them to the innkeeper. ‘Look after him,’ he said, ‘and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.’
36 “Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?”
37 The expert in the law replied, “The one who had mercy on him.”
Jesus told him, “Go and do likewise.”
i said to tbV as we tried to figure this out earlier today, “You know, these stories are great stories to tell, but not so much fun to work out.”
And that is the truth, because there is a cost attached. And quite possibly a sacrifice.
We don’t know why the priest and the Levite refuse to stop for the man, but there is a distinct possibility that it was because they were in a hurry – with a preach to preach or a budget meeting to facilitate or someone to visit. And yet they were presented with a need that epitomised who they were and the work they were meant to be doing, and they did everything they could to avoid it.
Helping people is messy. It doesn’t often come with a set of instructions. The right call is not necessarily obvious. Sometimes it is hard and often you have to call others for help…
For the Samaritan there was a cost of time, money and resources and he gave freely of all of them.
So while i didn’t “go to church” this morning, i did get an incredible opportunity to “church”. One of the things i spoke about at both book launches so far was the idea of moving away from church being a noun [a place we go to] and seeing it more as a verb [a description of God’s people doing God’s stuff in love].
If we do go to a place on Sunday with a specific set of people at a certain time, then the hope is that whatever happens there will fuel and encourage and challenge and teach us and empower us for the rest of the churching which happens from Monday to Saturday…
Hope you have an incredible week of church…
[For more on the book, ‘i, church’ click here]
Hi Brett,
I like the sentiment from this and agree that we should take every opportunity to be Jesus to those around us, even those that don’t immediately deserve that help. (ie. The jew would have seen the samaritan as having much less standing than himself)
What I would like to know your thoughts on is that if this consistently keeps you from going to church, then I would like to ask if the same sentiment applies?
Would it be better for the church as a whole to cover this need rather than one individual, and the burden is then on the church, not just the individual. Meeting together with many other Christians is a good habit to have as it gives us people to challenge us and hold us accountable for our actions, but also encourage us forward in being a good samaritan?
Sorry if this posts twice, had an issue with my phone.
It is the term “going to church” that i have problems with and i imagine the early church may have as well. The idea that church is a separate thing you go to once or twice a week instead of something that you are always. Meet regularly with a bunch of Christ-filling people? Absolutely. Break bread together? Definitely. Worship together in ways that may or may not include singing? Use money and resources to further the kingdom and look after the least of these? Yes, yes, YES! But the idea that that has to happen once a week in a particular building feels a lot less necessary to me for everyone, although for a lot of people it does seem to be the way that works best for them. Thoughts?
Yeah, I hear you, completely agree with what you have said. My main concern was when we get caught up in the deed, and that leads us away from being in godly community, but that does not seem to be the case here. Think I am on the same page as you after your explanation.
I do feel that actual services in church buildings are necessary as they are public events, which I would hope is a place where people in physical or spiritual need feel welcome to walk in off the street in their desperation. Which is more for someone with no connections I suppose, as opposed to your example where they had you as a connection.
I am encouraged by the example that you used below, that’s how the early church was a community without need.
Thanks for taking the time to reply.
Absolutely, thanks Garth. These kinds of conversations are so important and are some of the ones i have been having in my book. The idea that while the Sunday congregation vibe is church, so perhaps are a number of other ways of doing gatherings and engagements. Bottom line for me when looking for a loose definition of church is Gods people doing Gods stuff in love.
In our particular lived out version of this parable, that we are very much still in the middle of, we phoned some people and we got some resources from people, we emailed some people and today we met with some people, and so it was very much a beautiful picture of church coming together to help meet a need. What was stunning to me was that not all of those people are part of the same local church and not all of them are even in the same country. And yet it doesn’t feel any less like church being church…