For the Love of Jesus

Christ is our peace. He made both Jews and Gentiles into one group. With his body, he broke down the barrier of hatred that divided us… When he came, he announced good new of peace to you who were far away from God and to those were near. We both have access to the Father through Christ by the one Spirit… Christ is building you into a place where God lives through the Spirit. (Ephesians 2:14, 17-18, 22 CEB)

Yesterday’s devotional (Dec 8) in the Come Peasant, King Advent devotional really grabbed me. In the devotional my friend Olivia (the author) tells a story about an encounter they had in one of the communities where they pastored. The town was home in her words “to a religiously conservative church,” where the members believed they were part of the “one true church.” Olivia’s husband met a man from this church who was is the process of being expelled from the church. His primary charge from this church was that he, “loves Jesus more than he loves the church.”

The charge brought against this man just cuts me to the core. I have spent much of my working life in service to the church. Yet through the years, over and over I’ve seen examples of what Olivia is pointing out in her devotional. It is so easy to put our personal perspectives about how to do church on a pedestal that often wins out over Jesus’ call to “love one another” and “go and make disciples.”

I confess I too am guilty of sometimes thinking my preferred way of “doing” church is somehow “better” than others. But this story reminds me that whenever we put our way of doing things before Jesus’ call on our lives, we get it backwards. We must start with the questions, “Jesus, what are the barriers I am creating in the life of the church?” and “How can I truly be an instrument of your peace both in the church and in the world?”

Olivia points out, “Paul writes of the work of Christ, who is our peace; Jesus breaks down the dividing wall of hostility.” The world around us is constantly erecting dividing walls. Walls that try to make us choose their definition of who is in or out; good or bad. Unfortunately, too often the church does the same thing. Rather than working to break down walls, we work to build coalitions to support our perspectives and intentionally build dividing walls within the church. God have mercy.

Despite this wall building tendency, I am encouraged. This week as I participated in the second transition team meeting, I reflected on the privilege to sit around the table with a such a godly group of people; truly seeking to tear down the dividing walls that exist in our own local church. I solicit your prayers on our behalf as we seek to allow “Christ to [build us] into a place where God lives through the Spirit” (Eph 2:22).

In closing I invite you to reflect on this simple prayer of peace.

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace
Where there is hatred, let me sow love
Where there is injury, let me grant pardon
Where there is doubt, let me build faith
Where there is despair, let me spread hope
Where there is darkness, let me be light
Where there is sadness, let me express joy

O, Lord please let me not so much seek
To be consoled as to console
To be understood as to understand
To be loved as to love

For it is in giving that we receive
It is in pardoning that we are pardoned
It is in dying that we are born to eternal life

Amen

This song from the Brilliance is a musical reflection of this prayer: