Monday Morning Challenge

Monday Morning Challenge - a few months late and on a Wednesday

In a blog that I follow, Rachel Quan speaks of Christian Community this way:

“Healthy, accountable and caring community [which is a modern way of describing the Church Peter envisions] means a willingness to enter into the mess of one another’s lives and point each other to Jesus.   It means leaving our comfort zone of just sticking with those who are exactly like me and those who would never challenge my views or challenge my behavior.  …I would venture to say that my best relationships are those where I am with people who see the world very differently from me and love me so deeply that even when they challenge me, I know I am safe.” [Blog for the Fellowship of Presbyterians.  www.fellowship-pres.org]

“Healthy, accountable and caring community” is not easy – in fact life together is always messy.  But I say, “Bring on the mess!  There is hope in this mess!  There is life in this mess!  But most importantly… Jesus is in this mess and he longs for us to follow his way and find the hope that only he can give."

Friends, I long for our church to be such a community… a family whose love and care for each other conveys to everyone around us the hope we have in Jesus… a community of faith so radical in its attitudes and behaviors that people beg us to tell them how awesome Jesus is!

Peter gives us a lot to chew on [1 Peter 3:8-22]… But let’s not get caught up in the details, stuck because harmony, sympathy, love, compassion, humility, blessing, eagerness, and being prepared seem so difficult and out of reach.

The real question that remains is this:  Are you willing?  Are you willing to give it all over to Jesus?