Knitting is not for Loners!

I am so holy. I went to church, twice today! Bet, you can't beat that! Ha. Well, we checked out some pretty awesome churches today in Singapore. It was such a joy! So much joy, that tears where shed over how amazing it is that you can walk into a church around the world and feel so welcomed by others.

We often talk about church being a family, but I think you do not realize this is truly possible and happening until you leave the US. As Americans, we are not like other cultures. So far, I have shared dinner tables with people I've never met before, sat so close to people on the train that I think all Bostonians would constitute it inappropriate, and stood in line for long periods of time without anyone getting inpatient or annoyed! I know! It is a shocker. Singapore is a shock to my system. But, it is the fibrillation for my heart that I need.

Today, I heard a sermon on being "knit together in the body of Christ." I have heard that phrase a MILLION times in my church at home. I never once understood it because it was never lived out in front of me. You see, "being knit together" is not just a cool expression we can use to say, "I am your sister or brother in Christ" but in reality we only talk to that person on Sunday, on Facebook or in email. Nope, sorry but that is not what Paul meant by using the word "knit". He meant get out of your stinking house, and spend time with the people in your church! Care about them! Love them! Cook for them, sit in a cafe and talk for hours, and get to know them! We never do that in America. We go from place to place and never sit and enjoy our relationships. Starbucks and, even McDonald's, here is not a "to go" place. You will not see one person carrying around a "to go" cup. Probably, because you get fined $500 if you bring it on the subway, but you get my point. Sit, savor, and enjoy your relationships.

Friends, we need to be knit together in God if we really want to be effective. The preacher shared today that we have 10% of what God needs and the other 90% is found in other people that he wants us to work together with. The problem we have as Americans is that we think we have 95% of what God needs and maybe we will get the other 5% from someone else that we can "use." If we keep living this individualistic diseased life we will miss the whole point of the Great Commission.

If you are not a Christian, I'm sure you can agree that you haven't given church a full go because you feel disconnected. You feel like we talk about a big, awesome God, but we live a very hypocritical life. And, you are true! But, hang in there. God is bigger than the simplicity of the people you have met. The plan for you is that you will follow after God and you will have friends that are not just pushing you to go to church and leave you at the exit. No, he wants you to find Christian friends that love, support, encourage, and teach you the word of God without worrying if its Sunday morning, Tuesday mid day, or the middle of the night.

God's church is about relationships built on the word of God and love for Jesus. If you want to be by yourself, you have quite the hurdle to overcome. If you want to invite 50 friends to church on a Sunday, and forget about them the next week, you are doing it all wrong. Yep, I said it. Face it. Church is not a meeting to be blasted through in the streets with tally counts of how many people attend. Jesus and his saving grace and mercy is what is to be blasted through the streets of our neighborhoods.

Jesus' love for you and God's plan to build his believers up in his word is what being a Christan is all about. So, I urge you. Actually beg you, to stop thinking about Church as another meeting to be held and a box to be checked off. Rather think about it as a bunch of people that live lives willing to want to talk to you, love you, and share and encourage you with God's truth about Jesus' saving grace...DAILY.

Be uncomfortable. Stretch out your tent. Do things you would not normally do. I promise that the only way to be "knit together" is by tightly pinning the stitches together and if you drop a stitch, don't worry too much because God looks and sees your work as beautiful!

Just in case you needed biblical basis for my ranting, Check out Colossians 3 (The Message).

"Let the peace of Christ keep you in tune with each other, in step with each other. None of this going off and doing your own thing. And cultivate thankfulness. Let the Word of Christ—the Message—have the run of the house. Give it plenty of room in your lives. Instruct and direct one another using good common sense. And sing, sing your hearts out to God! Let every detail in your lives—words, actions, whatever—be done in the name of the Master, Jesus, thanking God the Father every step of the way"