Family reunions are a funny thing. They create this bizarre mix of emotions that only occur in a family setting. It is this tumultuous emotional churning of happiness and frustration, anger and joy that induces both laughter and temple rubbing. Families make us feel the full spectrum of emotions, and they do so for one simple reason.
They matter to us.
The things we feel the deepest are felt so deeply because they matter. The things that cause us the most joy and the things that cause us the most sorrow matter. The things that cause us to soar to the heights of happiness and the things that make our bodies vibrate with anger do so because they are important to us. If they did not matter, we would never – we could never – feel them on this same level.
For me that perfectly describes my feelings about my church at this moment.
I write this for those of you who go to church with me and for those of you may feel the same way about your own church at this very moment. The single greatest source of concern, stress, and frustration in my life at this very moment is my church. To be honest, there are moments that it is so frustrating and stress inducing to think about, that I wish I could just give it up and walk away from it all.
But I never could – it matters too much to me.
In the past couple of years our church has hemorrhaged people – going from a church pushing 150 to a church that struggles to break 60-70 each week. It has cost me my career and changed the direction of my life. It has affected me greatly, and I feel it deeply. As our church dies, I feel like I die along with it. The reasons people give for leaving have covered not liking the music, not liking the children’s ministry, not liking the preaching, personal conflicts, and wide variety of others. The issues are hard to specify, making them hard to address – and it eats my lunch every time I think about it. It stresses me, depresses me, frustrates me, and, at times, enrages me. But here is the funny thing, when I think of all of those negative things that the state of my own church makes me feel – it makes me think of one thing:
Family reunions and the turbulent landslide of emotions that can accompany them.
Do you know why what is happening in my church makes me feel that way? I think it is because it matters so much to me. It has to be, because only things that matter so deeply can make us feel so deeply. What is the church if it is not family? What is a family if it is not willing to stick it out in the toughest of times? How can either survive if we so easily forsake them, so quickly give up on them, so rarely practice forgiveness, so often shy away from reconciliation, and so rarely pitch in?
I have to ask myself this question about my relationship with my own church – If it truly matters to me, then what kind of commitment am I willing to make to help this relationship work? If I am truly being honest, I have to admit that there are definitely times when I have allowed those emotions to hinder my ability to lead and to worship. I have utilized them as excuses for not serving. In doing those things, I have become a part of the problem.
To my church, I say I am sorry; but I also say – you matter to me. Even in the midst of the dizzying array of things I feel about you right now – you matter so immensely to me. You are my family even when I feel distant from you. You are kin to me. It seems strange to say, but I am grateful for the frustration, the heartache, and the fear. Those are all evidences of this strangely deep and beautiful connection I have with you.
I think it is a tragedy that so many people experience these feelings and so easily leave a church. It is, I think a horrible precedent and so far from what the church is meant to be.If only we could open our eyes to the reality that these things we feel – good and bad combined – are all normal things for a family. They are, in fact, symptoms of the reality that we matter to one another. We should not fear or flee these feelings. We should embrace them, face them, and let them serve as a reminder of the deep deep connection we share with one another.
You are all my family – crazy aunts, obnoxious uncles, boisterous brothers, and all the rest. It is a bond that I could not break if I tried, and I wouldn’t want to.
You matter to me.
farther up 