Let me suggest an example of how it might look to see the church as the church through which God is working regardless of outward appearances.
It did not take Maria and Bert long to realize that they had accepted a call to the wrong church. It had been difficult for them to find a call since they wanted to serve as copastors and each two-thirds time so that they could care for their children. They were so excited when they finally received a call that they did not ask the hard questions that they now believed they should have.
The church turned out to be a suburban church whose people were very materialistic, had no sense of community responsibility and were openly bigoted and self-centered. It was a pastor’s nightmare. They drove the last pastor away in two years and were determined that their new pastors would “behave” and not stir up trouble. Every new idea that Maria or Bert suggested was quickly turned down with the advice that people did not want to change.
They might have run quickly from such a dismal situation except for a luncheon invitation from an elderly member called Matilda. Matilda invited them for lunch about four months after they arrived. She seemed to sense their pain and had such an ability to listen that they found themselves unburdening themselves to her. She did not disagree with their observations and added a few of her own.
“It’s all true,” she said, “isn’t it marvelous how God can work through such a broken vessel as this?”
“What do you mean?” they asked.
“Oh, it’s the little things,” she responded. “When the Erickson family had that long run of sickness in their family a couple of years ago, the church surprised itself by keeping them supplied with food for two months. At some level they know that they are not acting always as a Christian community should,” she continued. “In fact they still laugh about how the choir was about to break up over arguing about the music to sing on Sunday when Ana, a mother of three small children, suddenly fainted. Almost instantly the choir suddenly became united in responding to the emergency. The husband was out of town so some took her to the hospital while others saw to the needs of the children and traced down the husband.
Then there was that time a year ago when the church decided to take up a special offering in response to the earthquake victims and they surprised themselves at how big it was. They are just as bad as you say they are,” concluded Matilda, “but it always amazes me how every once in awhile the grace of God breaks through.”
Maria and Bert left that luncheon with a different perspective on the church to which they had been called. They concluded that if God could work in this congregation then they could at least look for the fruits of the Spirit and celebrate what God was doing.
