Sometimes it doesn’t take much to grab my attention. I mean, there are always those moments during
the day that if you want my attention you’ll have to yell my name over and over
and THEN break something, write it in the sky, etc. I can have a pretty thick skull at
times. Some call it selective
hearing. I call it
paying-attention-to-what-I-want-to. I
guess yesterday at church I was really in tune to everything that was going on
around me, especially in the spiritual.
I was at Cross Current – the one with a lot of rock and roll
worship songs – on
ly this time I wasn’t pumping my fist in the air. I was standing there with my mouth closed, my
hands in my pockets, and my eyes wide open. The band was on stage singing to their hearts content while the congregation
echoed their cries to the King of Kings. It was one of those nostalgic moments because it made me think of
memories past. I wasn’t quite sure what
I was doing there because I just wasn’t in a worshipful mode. I wanted to be, but it’s almost as if
something was standing between me and my heart – like my head. I felt the Lord provoking my spirit to look
around, so I raised my spiritual antennas.
And then I noticed
it.
I would liken it to a veil being removed more than anything
else. All of a sudden years and years of
redundant vocabulary finally made sense. It’s like God ignited a part of my Spirit on fire for something that I
had consciously ignored for years on end.
I was with family.
Occupying the entire sanctuary were my brothers and sisters in Christ. My older brother was up on stage playing
guitar, while my even older ones were making music with him. My older sisters were up there, singing away
as well. And then down on the floor were
more of my brothers and sisters – all of them bringing glory to God the Father,
Creator of all things living and breathing. It was quite a moment for me to take in – I, literally, almost lost my
breath.
It’s cool thinking about what happens when family pulls
together as one to give praise to God. We all come from different walks of life, different backgrounds,
different ‘families’, vary in spiritual maturity, but in the end we’re all
still the same – the same blood of Christ is pumping through our veins,
provoking our spirit-man to movement, our flesh to grow into the likeness of
Jesus – who is our older brother AND
our God.
I have to admit it all seems kind of weird, but it’s true.
We are family. It’s good to know that no matter where I go,
despite the barriers that people can’t see past, I have family in every
community I go to. Whether I’m in the
deserts of Africa or the lush jungles of the Amazon; if I find a Church, then
I’ve found family. I guess the only
problem we could have is when not everyone receives ‘family’. The Church has, unfortunately, been too good
at rejection – fueling a foul spirit that already feasts on 50% of its members.
What’s it going to take for us all to unite as one, big,
joyous family?
