Room for Growth

Linking with Faith Barista, joining her conversation on forgiveness:

I was mad at my church for two years.

I was mad at my church because I didn’t agree with a decision that had been made, nor with the way it had been made.  People I cared about had gotten hurt.  And, boy howdy, I knew my Bible and I knew my Book of Church Order, and I was angry at those sitting next to me in the pews.  In my humble opinion, those people weren’t exercising spiritual wisdom and maturity.

Like I was.

I’d like to say that my heart was softened toward my brothers and sisters in Christ after I’d engaged in a period of disciplined spiritual practices—prayer, fasting, engaging scripture, repentance, solitude, walking a labyrinth—something like that.  I didn’t find healing for my angry heart while on silent retreat in a monastery, however.  My heart began to thaw and I began to find forgiveness and peace, oddly enough, after finding these words in a mediocre chick-lit book which I read while floating in my pool:

“Sometimes people just don’t get things right.”  Gran began picking up the plates from the table and carrying them over to do the washing up.  “Did you hear me?  People sometimes don’t do the right thing.”

“So then what?”  Georgia’s tone made it clear that she wasn’t satisfied.

“So then you’re left deciding how you’re going to react to what they offer.  Because you can’t make them change.”

“That’s it?”

“That’s it, then”

(The Knitting Club, by Kate Jacobs)

I was reminded of this exchange while participating in a workshop about worship during the recent Jubilee Conference.  The audience in the room represented a wide array of denominational affiliations and worship styles.  The speaker was making the case for the necessity of five core practices for God-centered worship.  While the entire presentation was excellent, a single side comment which the speaker made caught my attention.   He pointed out that different churches will emphasize some of these practices more so than the others, while in the remaining areas there exists room for growth.

I thought that was just about the most generous description of the church I’d ever heard.

Too often I have been critical of the church, of the actions, decisions, and attitudes of the leadership and of my fellow church members.  I hold high and lofty expectations of what it means to be the church of Jesus Christ.  There are things we should do and we should do them well, I think.  And sometimes, I’m just plain-old self-centered and want to have things done my way.  In the process of doing life alongside others within the church, however, I’ve come to recognize truth in those chlorine-soaked words offered by Gran: 

Sometimes people just don’t get things right.

Sometimes I don’t get things right.

Sometimes my church doesn’t get things right.

Sometimes entire denominations don’t get things right.

So then what?  So then I’m left deciding how to react.  I can react in anger, bitterness, and frustration toward others and myself.  I did that for two years.  I did that and lost sleep and missed out on sweet opportunities for fellowship and encouragement from my brothers and sisters, image-bearers of God who are  every bit as broken and flawed as I am.

Or I can choose to extend grace, to acknowledge that in every one of us who make up the church of Jesus Christ there is room for growth.

In writing to the Ephesian church, the Apostle Paul reminded them that God had given apostles, prophets, evangelists, shepherds and teachers to build up the body of Christ, until they grew in unity, to maturity and to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.  (Ephesians 4:11-13, ESV)

I don’t know about you, but I think I’ve got a long way to go in reaching the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.  And if that’s true about me, it’s most likely true of every man, woman, and child, church leader and congregation member sitting in the pews surrounding me.   I want them, my brothers and sisters in Christ, to be patient with me; acknowledging that in my walk with Jesus there is room for growth.

May God give me the grace to see them likewise.