"...IF we are the body, Why aren't His arms reaching? Why aren't His hands healing? Why aren't His words teaching? And if we are the body, Why aren't His feet going? Why is His love not showing them there is a way? There is a way..."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z4wojcSO9...To most the Church is irrelevant for today's problems... and many are finding a life outside of our forefathers religion. Support groups to social networks keep us going most of the time and we have our circle of friends in whom we confide. It would seem as long as WE are OK then OUR world is good.
Many in this world exist merely for there themselves or their "own" ...most simply don't think they have the energy to reach beyond their own needs and desires. Spread too thin with a fractured focus, our senses are taxed to the limit. There are those we "see" but most go unnoticed as we pass by, we interact with many in the workforce yet the depth of comradery is hard to find any deeper than the surface. If indeed your scope of influence is an exception to the rule... pain must have been your companion, to make you that compassionate.
Some of the most giving people I know, are those who have had most of what they valued taken from them. In finding their "bottom" ...up is the only direction left, and on their way they realize the world did not revolve around them. There are others going through the very things we do... some are just better at hiding their pain. The "Church" is no different. And there is a misconception of what the Church is.
IF there was an institution that would accurately parallel the Church, I think it would be a hospital. And the worship service the Emergency Room. BUT, it is not the kind of hospital where people get better necessarily... and ends up more like a mental institution where most are just sedated and bed ridden. Sadly the real "body" is still reaching, healing, teaching, going with love showing... just not withing those 4 walls called the "Church". The Body of Christ is still fully functional just sometimes out of plain sight.
When we visited the "crime capital of Canada" Regina, Saskatchewan, we got a chance to see the "body" at loving work. One could not walk half a block in that inner-city without finding needles on the ground or sidewalk... and where there was hurt and pain, there was soup kitchens and food banks. IN these places we saw the love of Christ, the hands of God and the arms of love. IF you want to witness a miracle attend these Churches of hope... and be prepared to see people walk on water and raise the dead.
The lower you go in society, the higher you climb in the heavenly... one only has to humble one's self to bare witness of Jesus Christ walking in real-time among people. My heart's desire is to be able to see past my own wants, that I may be useful to provide for another's basic needs. I have been hungry and homeless... and I can testify that I would rather have an empty stomach than an empty heart. Having someone near to talk with is the greatest thing in the world, loneliness is the worst. IF one thinks that they have nothing to give, they haven't yet given themselves away... for in doing that one gains more than one can hold, and receives more than one can know!
Healing Hearts Ministry in Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada does just that... they have programs for anyone who would like to serve, not sit. They have opportunities that reach into schools helping children from broken homes read, and just befriend and mend these tiny bruise hearts. We had a youth mission trip to their ministry... and the toughest youth were transformed into the very loving hands of Jesus Christ. There is your miracle,
there is your God at work.
So to answer the World's question: "Why aren't His arms reaching? Why aren't His hands healing? Why aren't His words teaching? And if we are the body, Why aren't His feet going? Why is His love not showing them there is a way? ...in short it is not WHY, but WHERE. WHERE aren't His arms reaching? WHERE aren't His hands healing? WHERE aren't His words teaching? And if we are the body, WHERE aren't His feet going? WHERE is His love not showing them there is a way? And the answers are obvious.
Get out of the Church... and pour this salt of the Earth out where it is needed. Get out of the Church... and shine the light of God where there is darkness. Get out of the Church... and kiss the tears away, hold the pain away and serve the blues away! Then when you return to your Church building, you will have reason to celebrate... Jesus said that He leaves the 99 sheep in the pasture to find the 1 lost sheep, and then returns with rejoicing. We must do the same! IF you are looking here for Jesus, sorry...
He is still out where the sinners are! Go see...
God bless Spurgeon & Gina Root, and all those at Healing Hearts...
http://www.healinghearts.ca/support.html