The Messy Reality of Fellowship
Once again, I’ve run across another blog post this week in which the author is writing on the same topic as me, i.e., fellowship. Jim at “Crossroad Junction” has written a very thought-provoking post called “Glorious, Messy Reality.”
Like Jim writes in his post, it can be messy to find real fellowship in Christ, that is, to truly share your lives with one another as you share your lives with Christ. It really does take laying down “their lives, their hurts, their theories, and their sensibilities to find real fellowship.”
So far, the comments have been very good also. I especially appreciate the fact that Jim said (in a comment reply) that he does not want to try to express a “how to” of finding fellowship. Fellowship is not something that can be accomplished in a few steps or through a program.
Fellowship is about sharing our lives together in Christ. That will look different for different people in different situation. But, one thing is common: Our lives are messy… so our fellowship will be messy. But, if we are living in the grace and love of God, then we will accept one another in our messy lives and watch with wonder and amazement at what God does through those messy lives.
Of course, if we’re not willing to be part of another person’s mess… if we’re not willing to set aside our own interests, our own plans, our own ideals, our own agendas… then we may have nice, neat lives (as far as we see it), but we won’t have fellowship.
I’m currently reading the book, Messy Church, by Ross Parsley, which talks about much the same thing. Very good so far. I’ll be blogging a review of it when I finish.
Chuck,
I’m looking forward to reading your review!
-Alan
Sorta like…”Consider others more highly than yourself.”
It takes prayer, patience, grace, tolerance, love, prayer, understanding, empathy, prayer…did I mention prayer? Yes, prayer – that human part of us can rear its ugly head, inspiring us to be prideful and snobbish. We need to continually pray to get the eye and mind of God when it comes to people and their (our) issues.
We need to live as J.J. Heller’s song says, “I will love you for you…” (What Love Really Means, by J.J. Heller). This is how God loves us, we need to love one another and our neighbors this way.
My life is a mess – I need order.
John #1,
Yes, there’s that “consider others” passage from Philippians 2 again. It always seems to pop up at the most inconvenient moments. 🙂
John #2,
Yes, all of our lives are a mess, and all of us need the order that only God can bring. But, we do not wait for that order before we welcome people into our lives.
-Alan
The book I’ve been reading, Messy Church, is free this week. http://dccebooks.com/
Chuck,
Thanks for the info!
-Alan
The review is up on my website now.
Chuck,
Thanks for the update. If anyone else is interested, here is the link to Chuck’s review of Messy Church.
-Alan