What it means to be a church...

We are a church

A mosaic of emotions, circumstances and uncertainty

And we bring the junk of our lives

The hurts

Fears

joys

There’s a man who is depressed. He doesn’t see a light at the end of the tunnel.

There’s a student searching for answers to her scars and why she’s so distrustful.

There’s a widow that has lived for three years alone and this is her family now

This church- this is really all she has

There’s a recovering alcoholic

A frightened child

And bankrupt business owner

And a thankful husband

A joyful young couple

And they bring blocks of pain and hope

And boards of burdens and blessings

There is a successful business woman struggling with an addiction

And child who feels excluded at school- he’s bullied and angry

Each one of us comes into this building carrying something.

We are all a mess

And the people who say they aren't a mess are a mess because they can’t see their blocks and boards.

Blocks and boards don’t say anything some times

Like most despairing burdens they are quiet only present in the prayers we pray

And then we worship.  The music begins.

The prayers are spoken

The Holy Spirit moves among us and we take all that we are

Our fears

Our love

Our doubts

Our joys

We talk

We find solutions

We work at it.

Sometimes it’s a noisy process

Sometimes we have to get in the middle of someone else’s mess

But it's OK.

We are about to commune with God in a safe place

We are able to come together

And as strange as it sounds …

God comes and we begin to see that the emotions, this wreckage is an illustration... a clue that God is still God

That He is at work in our worship. That we can overcome all those things that before we came in, seemed so impossible, so insurmountable

That together we can comfort one another

And that called grace

And that’s called hope

And that’s called church.