of Camp & Church, Disappointment & Dreams

After an amazing week at a thought provoking family camp on the shores of a gem of a prairie lake I am happy to be home and back to a semblance of normal (whatever that means). It was a perfect week of leisurely mornings, late morning sessions with a Focus on the Family speaker, GREAT food, afternoons of fun and sun and water and sand, more GREAT food, relaxed evenings topped off with great sharing, worship and prayer in evening circles... ah.... the evening circles. The heart of camp as it is referred to. The time to pause, reflect, share, pray, just generally "meet" face to face, heart to heart, soul to soul. Various people (including pastors) voiced the specialness of this type of encounter, the desire that this kind of sharing could be brought home from the lake and made part of our year round life. I have to admit, it's a desire of mine as well and a regular source of disappointment to me.

Prairie Guy grew up in the brethren church where "church" looks pretty much like those evening sharing circles. Light on the program, heavy on the interaction. Less brain fodder (preaching) and more heart fodder (sharing), not to discount the importance of preaching by any means, but I hope you understand what I am driving at. We also spent nearly 7 years in ministry (3 years with OM ships and 3.5 years in camp ministry in Italy with the Brethren churches) where this kind of interaction was regular and rewarding.

I have long resigned myself to the fact that our Sunday morning services are not set up this way. That they are more of an institution of instruction than an organism of openness. That they are more about program and preaching than spontaneous praise, prayer and petition. That everything has a time and place in the name of "order of service" and as such even the Lord's table, the heartbeat of our meeting, has been forced onto a 2 month rotation. This grieves me. It grieves me, but I refuse to allow myself to harbor a spirit of criticism or judgementalism. This is easier said than done. It's hard (read heart) work. I have purposefully and pointedly forbidden myself to read Pagan Christianity by George Barna because in my heart I am already aware of how far off the mark we are, and rather than spending my time digging the hole of despair and discontent any deeper, I want to work pro-actively to BE and ACHIEVE the things I wish for the church.

Being helpless to change the church, we have set our hearts on changing our attitude. Praying for a passion and love for our church (which we already are passionate about and which we already love). We were challenged at camp to "take risks". To dream big. To BE a difference. Prairie Guy and I spoke this afternoon after church, shared a little bit of our sadness at the "dryness" of it all, and then quickly caught ourselves and exhorted one another with challenges and questions of how we could BE different. Heart longs for the Lord's table and fellowship around a circle? Let's make it happen! I've long had a desire for our home to be an "open house" on Sunday afternoons/evenings. My desire was more for the fellowship aspect and just "hanging" and "shooting the breeze". But now I think we have a seedling of vision in our hearts for something even more intentional. So I am setting this dream down in black and white, I'm offering it to God, and expressing it to others, with a hope and anticipation that He will bring something of it and fulfill the desires of our hearts and meet the desires that others may not even realize they have.

Here is what I envision. Sunday afternoons, after children's naps (4 o'clock-ish) start an "open house-ish" type get together. This could be here at our place, or at the ball park, the park, the lake, other people's yards or just in the church fellowship hall during winter. Everyone brings picnic style food to eat together later on. We spend a few hours playing ball, or flying kites, or bocce, indoor games in winter, just hanging out and PLAYING. Then we eat. And talk. And laugh. Then we have a sharing circle. Around a fire. On a beach, in the park, wherever. We just sit around and sing impromptu worship songs to the accompaniment of a couple guitars or acapella, and in between songs we challenge each other. With personal testimonies, passages of scripture. We love each other. By listening and reaching out and praying. We sit in silence, staring into a fire, or listening to the wind in the leaves, or the hoot of an owl. Learn to be comfortable with silence, enjoy it even, how come we can do that at the lake but not at home??? Dearest and sweetest of all, we take time to commemorate Him in the breaking of bread and the passing of the cup. Nothing mystical. Nothing ceremonial. Bread. Juice. One simple loaf, one common pitcher, divided amongst us. Taken in fellowship, looking forward to the day we will take it in fellowship with Him.

These are my musings. This is my dream.