What happens next?

Dear family,

I think its time for a sit down, town hall, reconciliation meeting. I wonder how we can honor God when i know there is strife, animosity, anger, and disappointment with one another, inside the church? We can't. More disturbing, folks, is that God will stop bringing us new people, if we do not find ways to heal what ails us. But in order for that to happen, something else has to happen first. We have to leave our pride at the door.

But i think, all too often, we want to win. We want to make sure the other person knows that they upset or even hurt us, and we won't budge or give in, because the other person deserves to know how wrong they were. Our behavior mirrors more that of Laban and Jacob, who have no qualms about deceiving each other, so that they can get what they want. They willingly dishonor the relationship, so that they can get what they deem is theirs.

In Laban's case, Jacob is free labor and a blessing that increases Laban's wealth. In the case of Jacob, he outwits Laban and gets the stronger, healthier, and most profitable livestock. They were so mad at each other that they seemed to scheme, over and over again, new ways to get over on the other. Reconciliation, when one's heart is as dark and deceptive as Laban's and Jacob's, is impossible. Reconciliation is not about making one person feel less than. It is about restoring and healing and unity.

We, as a church community, need this healing, now. We must be willing and able to do anything and everything to restore the health and unity and vision of our church community. We must, like we will witness from Esau, be willing to throw aside our grief and run to our sister or brother and embrace them, as a long lost prodigal. Reconciliation is about love, a higher love, a Godly love, and when we live in that love, we want nothing more than a restore fellowship. It is time, sisters and brothers, it is time.

It is time to put aside our differences, our hurts, our angers, and be open and honest with one another, so that the CHURCH can become what God created her to be. It is time to quit playing games of power control and gossiping and be vulnerable and upfront, so that the church can move the mountains God called her to move. It is time to stop the immature, passive-aggressive behavior that has permeating our congregation, so that we can have real relationships, Godly relationships, Christ like relationships. When that happens, God will work miracles through us and for us. But it takes people to have the faith in God to heal them and the trust in their sisters and brothers, even those that might have hurt them, so that true healing can come.

But it is also takes maturity and accountability. We have to be tied to one another and listen to one another, but we also have to vocalize our differences, instead of storing them deep down, where they can't be heard. More than that, when we bury our differences, instead of airing them out, so God's love and healing can invade us, the pain begins to sour us and poison us. It is time, folks, to let the poison out and find the new dawn God has in mind for us.

We dont want to be like Laban and Jacob, who continue to find new ways to deceive and outdue one another. Instead, if we are to be healthy and truly Godly, we must resemble Esau, who threw down the ugly past and ran to his brother, his long lost brother. We must look more like the prodigal's father, who rejoices that the relationship is viable again. And we must live more Christ like, who calls us to forgive our enemies, love our neighbors, and pray for those that persecute us. In these actions, God is made alive, and the world is transformed. Amen.

Shalom,
jerry