Talk about opposites. Today is Sunday services with the promises of Hope and the Memories of the departed to follow. Working for a church can change a person. So much of what we regularly take for granted happens here in stark contrast day to day. There are always calls for food, shelter, safety. There is almost without fail someone here looking for something he or she is claiming to be without. We have to take them at their word if we are to be what we say we are.
At the same time we must also be a paragon of virtue, honesty. kindness and compassion. A church is more than a building and more than a beacon in a world that is constantly filled with darkness and hopelessness. Even if you are an Atheist or one in doubt, a church must continue to be all this even if you cannot accept it as anything but a lie. A church is the best bet. It should always be a person's best hope for safety, mercy, compassion and peace.
The mission of a church is to be a geologic center in an otherwise unsure world and a rock that provides stability to the community.
Many churches fail to do this, only because they forget why they are there in the first place. Like most of life, the rule of thumb is: It is almost always the few that stand out from the many. The very nature of our collective humanity is to look to the few or the one rather than the many or the masses to determine our collective fates.
We hand off inevitably to the singular entities of Government led usually by an individual or small group of people that we have laid our trust with- undeserved or not. Whether it is a democracy or monarchy- the rule of the few or one continues to be the way the collective masses prefer.
It is thus up to the few or one to be responsible to the many that becomes Paramount. As a church this is equally important. As a Christian Church, my church, it is crucial to remember that it was the one who sacrificed himself so the masses may find forgiveness and new life in this world and the next (should there be one).
So here I am on Sunday with birth and death around me reminding myself that even if it is just my job, it is my responsibility and duty to remember where I am and what I am doing as the day progresses towards evening.
It helps that I believe in what I do.
It helps that I believe even if you do not.
It helps me to help you.
At the same time we must also be a paragon of virtue, honesty. kindness and compassion. A church is more than a building and more than a beacon in a world that is constantly filled with darkness and hopelessness. Even if you are an Atheist or one in doubt, a church must continue to be all this even if you cannot accept it as anything but a lie. A church is the best bet. It should always be a person's best hope for safety, mercy, compassion and peace.
The mission of a church is to be a geologic center in an otherwise unsure world and a rock that provides stability to the community.
Many churches fail to do this, only because they forget why they are there in the first place. Like most of life, the rule of thumb is: It is almost always the few that stand out from the many. The very nature of our collective humanity is to look to the few or the one rather than the many or the masses to determine our collective fates.
We hand off inevitably to the singular entities of Government led usually by an individual or small group of people that we have laid our trust with- undeserved or not. Whether it is a democracy or monarchy- the rule of the few or one continues to be the way the collective masses prefer.
It is thus up to the few or one to be responsible to the many that becomes Paramount. As a church this is equally important. As a Christian Church, my church, it is crucial to remember that it was the one who sacrificed himself so the masses may find forgiveness and new life in this world and the next (should there be one).
So here I am on Sunday with birth and death around me reminding myself that even if it is just my job, it is my responsibility and duty to remember where I am and what I am doing as the day progresses towards evening.
It helps that I believe in what I do.
It helps that I believe even if you do not.
It helps me to help you.
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