ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGS
December 14, 2022
Imagine someone visiting a church four times, and as this individual is leaving for the fourth and final time, the comment to the pastor is, “You all don’t seem to understand the meaning of joy and kindness, or even how to smile.” This was the experience of a pastor friend of mine who was initially hurt by the visitor’s words, but reflecting on them later that day, he admitted the church had been in a sort of funk for a while.
Like individual people, the church is a body, and it conveys moods and emotions. We’d like to believe it’s always joy and kindness, wrapped in a smile. But sadly, it is not. Communities of faith go through grief, they can feel lost, even frustrated, frenzied or exasperated. They can find themselves in a sort of funk. Yet shouldn’t the Body of Christ, the enfleshed representation of Jesus in the world, still find a way of conferring joy and kindness?
We live in a world where people assume joy is the opposite of many of these negative feelings and experiences, but joy is in fact intensified in such moments, at least for people of faith. Joy comes from the recognition that, in spite of painful and challenging times, God remains present; love endures; hope never fails. The church will never be perfect, but visitors should always, no matter what else is happening, find the community representing the child of this season to be a community of joy.
You are the Source of Joy, so I know joy is not dependent on or swayed by anything I might do or experience. For that, I am thankful! And so is the world around me. Amen.
