Armchair QB



We spent the day with our friends of Inner Metro Green this past Sunday.  This is a small missional community in Lancaster city which we stumbled across but find ourselves drawn to.  There is nothing fancy about them.  They rent the sanctuary from an existing church.  They are young and old, married and singles, men and women, black and white.  There was no band, just a single guitar.  They spend time in worship, share the Eucharist, and then a member of the community gives a message.

For this first Sunday of Advent, Keith provided a message from a passage known as the Beatitudes.

Blessed are the meek...

What does that even mean?  My grandmother says that God cares for the ignorant and their children.  Is that what it means?  God takes care of those unable to care for themselves?  Doesn't God give us gifts to use?  I can fix.  I am a problem solver.  I am a little bossy sometimes, but I usually know the right answer.  Doesn't God want me to get things done?  Doesn't He want me to work on His behalf?

Does He?  He praised Mary who sat at His feet, listening, learning, loving, while Martha ran around doing, serving, getting things done.  Do things, achieving goals, mean as much as we think?  If they give me a sense of self, isn't that just another form of idolatry?  Shouldn't my sense of who I am be a reflection of who He says I am? 

for they will inherit the earth.

What is that about?  Obviously there wasn't global warming and strip mining and strip malls in Jesus' time.  (Well, maybe there was/is/will be since He occupies that place of Alpha and Omega...)  Either way, He didn't talk about it.  'Course, in that time, much like now, everyone wanted that piece of land in Palestine.  The Jews were under Roman rule, but many held hope that Jesus would fix all that.

Being a note taker, that's just how I process, I was engrossed in processing Keith's words when I became aware that the atmosphere had changed.  This was confirmed when Keith said, "You guys are looking at the mouse up here, right?"  Actually there were two quiet, little mice, church mice, of course.

The mice weren't trying to steal communion or intrude on the service.  They were just doing what mice do: scurry curiously across floors exploring.  But in a moment, the church mice had inherited the service, our piece of the earth for the moment.

So, what if we just did our thing?  What if we just tried to live lives that would please Jesus, that might reflect God's love to the people around us, that relied on grace?  What if we didn't get political or demand that governments obey God's rule (especially since He is a Ruler of the heart more than land right now) or expect to be treated fairly?  What if we expect to suffer ridicule and isolation for sharing the radical love of Jesus?  What if....

Maybe then we will inherit the earth.

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