The prevailing view of life today is that of an individual standing on his or her own, heroically juggling various responsibilities—family, friendships, career, leisure, chores, and money…From time to time the pressures overwhelm us and we drop one or more of the balls. All too often church becomes one of those balls…An alternative model is to view our various activities and responsibilities as spokes of a wheel. At the center or hub of life is not me as an individual but us as members of the Christian community. Church is not another ball for me to juggle but that which defines who I am and gives Christlike shape to my life…In our experience, people are often enthusiastic about community until it impinges on their decision-making. For all their rhetoric, they still expect to make decisions by themselves for themselves. We assume we are masters of our own lives.
Steve Timis and Tim Chester, Total Church, pp. 44-45
Hi Chris, I, unfortunately, was one of those people who dropped the “church” ball. On returning, I realized, thank God, how much better I felt about responsibilities in light of those blessed Sunday mornings! This past Sunday’s lessons about love were a prelude to celebrating my aunt’s 80th birthday. It was bittersweet, as she has dementia. But the love in that room, with neighbors, church friends, family (including a great-grandson Luke) was over whelming! It was a day that I will always treasure and I know that God pulled it all together. Thank you!
Hi Debbie. Thanks for stopping by and commenting! I am glad that you felt the overwhelming love in your aunt’s birthday and that Dennis’ message was a prelude for that. I really like the quote because it is largely bracing for us in our super-busy Northeastern culture. But, on the flip side, the good news is that we have the gospel! That our status before God doesn’t matter how well we “juggled.” But Jesus completely accepts us by grace through faith, not our own performance.