After one of our Christmas Eve services, we learned that one of our long-time members and faithful church attendees had been very sick and in the hospital for over two weeks. While it might be a normal response to question the family for not letting us know sooner, that was not my first reaction. Instead, what initially hit me was sadness over my own failure… why had I not noticed that they weren’t in church for two weeks? And then my question expanded to the larger system of our church community… why had WE not noticed?
I do recognize that many people are private, do not like attention, and prefer to slip in and out of worship service anonymously and without receiving much hoopla and fanfare. I believe, though, that most of us have a longing to be acknowledged, to be seen by others, embraced, welcomed, noticed, and known. It’s human nature; we have been created for connection and community with others. Most of you know that I am a chicken farmer in my free time (the farm is up to 23 hens now!) and one of the things we sadly learned after the terrible baby-chicks-meet-dogs carnage of 2020 is that one chicken cannot live alone. You must find another chicken for it to flock with or it will become depressed. Chickens are social animals and need the companionship of other chickens. Chickens that live all alone will begin to resort to self-harm and pluck out their own feathers, have decreased egg production, and live a shorter life. I think about this with humans often. At our very essence, humans are chickens. We need a flock too.
The story between God and humankind begins with community. In the beginning, God brought all of the animals to Adam to see if a suitable companion could be found among them. Adam gave them all names but none were his equal, none appropriate for being a partner. So God took Adam’s bone and flesh and made another human. The first community.
When we look to the Bible for evidence of who God is and how we are called to live our lives, we see from the very beginning with Adam and Eve that we were created to be in relationship. This is the heart of Jesus’ ministry too, and is how we are called to be disciples and to live as a church to others.
One of the main ways we live our lives as disciples is by caring for other people. Micah 6:8 says “What does the Lord require of you? To do justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly with the Lord.” In other words, God calls us to action on behalf of others, by doing justice and prioritizing kindness.
John Wesley, the founder of Methodism, challenged us in his covenant prayer to say “I am no longer my own but thine. Put me to what you will. Rank me with whom you will.” In other words, put me with the people you want me to be in relationship with, and then use me to do your good work.
Adam Hamilton, the pastor of the Church of the Resurrection, one of the largest Methodist churches, reminds us that these days God doesn’t really do good works through miracles. God could, but that’s not how God works. And God doesn’t send angels to do God’s work. Again, God could, but God typically doesn’t. God reaches us through people, God makes things happen through US. We are the instruments that God uses. God tries to guide us and strengthen us and point us where we need to go. God wants to use US.
In order for this to happen, we have to pay attention to the people around us. In the book The Ministry of Ordinary Places, author Shannan Martin said “This mission humbly asks that we devote ourselves to the overlooked spiritual practice of paying attention to wherever God has placed us. That’s where we begin, and, though it’s not terribly complicated, it will ask more of us than we ever imagined.”
And so this is how we are to align our lives. Paying attention where we are, to the people and situations around us, is the first step. We might attend church for our own worship and spiritual formation. I often wonder what might happen if we, as a congregation of disciples and Jesus- followers, also see church as an opportunity for God to use us to reach those that have been placed around us.
But it goes one step farther. After we pay attention, we have to stop what we’re doing, allow ourselves to be interrupted, and be willing to follow through on what God has shown us and act upon the ways God has prompted us. To engage in kindness by carrying out whatever God has called us to do, even if we don’t have time, it makes us nervous, or is very different from how the world tells us to act. This might look like going to introduce yourself and welcome a person that you have never noticed before. Making a phone call to the person that often sits two pews in front of you but hasn’t been at church in several weeks. Speaking some warm and affirming words to the parent whose child was a little bit more wiggly in church than normal. These things often make us feel vulnerable and uncomfortable, and it is easier and safer to not take these steps, but isn’t this exactly what our faith requires of us?
We have to pay attention to the ways that God speaks to us. And then we have to be willing to follow through with the ways God prompts us. As we practice these things in the community of our church congregation, they will begin to feel less scary and more natural. The more we practice in church, the more this becomes the way we live in our neighborhoods. And I truly believe that this is how God transforms the world.