Thanks to Pastor Ron Thomas and Gaynor Thomas for a most enjoyable evening last night, as I prepare to say a long and sad goodbye to California in this, my last week here.
And I’ll say some words of praise for the Mount Baldy village church I’ve been attending every Sunday morning and for the people I have met there.
Sunday 17 April was my last time at the church. I shall be returning to home the UK on 24 April, to finish my book “Being and Place”, and report back to the world some time soon with a message of hope, something that takes us out of this climate of fear.
I shall be writing of community as something expressed through habits of the heart. These are the very things I have found nurtured and practised here.
I call it the little village church with a big heart and a big soul, a safe place where loving people can join together, share their experiences and give expression to the greater love that unites us all beyond our lesser differences. These are good habits to form, habits that last a lifetime, which may come to our emotional rescue at the times in our lives when we need them most.
I like the way this place grounds us all in a bigger picture. We need this. I’m looking at the state of the world, the things that divide people, separate us from one another. And I’m looking at the way we can bring people together to create new ties and solidarities. The world is a house divided against itself. We need to develop the right relationships for living well on this, our common home.
We have to pray for a new beginning, a new tomorrow, learn what it takes to live together in peace and goodwill on the planet, as God surely intended. Let’s exercise some Creation Care.
Let’s be the church of hope and change. Those were the words I heard yesterday. Indeed.
There’s a new world on the horizon. We see that world here in its human dimensions. The love that is expressed in community. A good model for the world. In living the gospel, drawing the connection between Jesus Christ, the kingdom of God, and the community of faith and loving practice, we see a vision of church becoming what it has in its heart to be. It is people, with all their proclivities and idiosyncrasies, who make up the substance of church life. It is among real people that the task of nurturing the good life must take place.
The relations practised in this little village church give a lesson in what it takes to live in community with others, to support one another in times of need, to encourage one another in looking inside to find the best in oneself and realise one’s potential, to learn from one another and to join together to get a glimpse of what God has in mind for us on this planet.
My favourite passage from the Bible is Isaiah 66: 1:
This is what the Lord says: "Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool. Where is the house you will build for me? Where will my resting place be?”
Good questions that demand a practical answer. I believe in an incarnate spirituality which charges us with the take of building the New Jerusalem, housing the sacred. We need to listen, get the message and then join together and see how we can put it into action.
And if I seem to speak with an enthusiasm bordering on the extravagant about this village church, it is because I have been welcomed into its big heart from the first, I have loved meeting the people here every week, and they have clearly enjoyed greeting me every week. I have found it to be a place of peace, support and joy in an often troubled world. There have been some difficult personal moments for me since I have been here. And I have been thankful for the existence of this place. In short, it's church as home and as family.
I remember this old post.
‘Church is not something you go to, it’s a family you belong to’.
I have a good book called “Why Bother with the Church” by Simon Church (2001 Inter Varsity Press). And he argues beautifully that church is the place where we can be at home. ‘Churches are able to meet the need people feel for depth and closeness of relationship. They are able to offer the intimate fellowship that is impossible in a large crowd. They are also excellent environments for nurturing faith, and for helping people to grow in their understanding of who God is, what he has done for us in Christ, and what it means to follow Jesus in today's world.’
'What I liked, I suppose, was the fact that I could be myself ... No airs and graces. If I said something daft no-one laughed at me. I felt I belonged.'
We are all of us amongst the walking wounded, damaged and scarred by life, but we can be made whole again. ‘Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.' (Mathew 11:28-29).
What can I say? I returned to my church back in 2007, and the meaning, purpose and direction I had lost suddenly returned. The broken, the lonely, the awkward, the selfish, the damaged, people like us: all are welcome. People at various stages of being put back together again to become whole.
It sounds radical to say that we don’t need church to be spiritual, we can do this in our everyday life. I’m just glad this physical place exists, a kind of housing for the soul. Church has the intimacy of a close family, but it also reminds us that we are all part of a bigger picture. It’s a safe place that always around for when you need it most. It’s easy to find friends when things are going well in life. The church doors were always open to me when things were not going well. They still are. And the people there have never let me down.
So thanks to one and all, those who are striving to make a place of belonging for people in their community. All God’s people are a wonderfully diverse bunch. We all have to learn from, give to, and support one another on this journey. And we need places like this to bring us together, making room for our own different perspectives, remembering that we are all part of a greater love that unifies us.
This little village church offers a picture of a vibrant, life-affirming community of women, men and children drawn from every nation, tribe, social class and ethnic background, giving us a sense of belonging which allows us to encounter Jesus as a living and liberating force in an often turbulent world.
I call it God’s building project on Earth as it is in Heaven, the growth and edification of people into a common life through their God-given ministry to each other (1 Corinthians 14:12,19, 26).
We have ideas, but we inhabit beliefs. In St. Paul's sublime phrase, ‘we move, live, and are’ in Christ.
We move, live and are participants in and members of a greater whole. Being is dwelling in, inhabiting, a familiar ground we know from the inside, not something we know about from the outside via the intellect. Our feelings and intuitions are as vital to the way we live our lives in the world as are our consciously articulated beliefs. They form the ground we stand upon, the world we inhabit, our knowing, living and being, who we are.
‘So in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others.’ (Romans 12: 5).
‘May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit’ (Romans 15:13).
And thanks to the band too for the great and inspiring music, getting us on the good foot for the rest of the week! Facing the world and living into all it brings us with joy.
Hope, not fear. Bring on the future, we'll make something of it!