What an absolutely “spot on” affirmation of the life of the church. Living the story, “joining” that story, and discovering the depths of our addiction does not immediately change us, but we are forever changed in that we are “freed” to be in an in-depth, intense working together on our “captivity” to the culture. As I wondered about the mall last night as my Janet and Kelli looked for gifts, I was struck with the commercial captivity of “Christmas” in the world. This is most assuredly NOT Christmas. When I hear people talk about the “War on Christmas”, they are almost always complaining about what the retailers are doing. This seems to me to be entirely irrelevant. This “exchange of gifts” thing is also ENTIRELY irrelevant to the birth of Christ unless it is in the context of BEING the church in the first place; being a church where the gift that is each of us learns to know what GIFT is. Of course the gift that is Jesus from God is our template and guide and power to do so. And this REQUIRES that we immerse ourselves in the alternative life that Jesus lived and partake of the Kingdom that Jesus announced, and take up the cross that Jesus said we must.
In saying yes to the church’s story, we say no to the world’s story of power and violence and greed. Saying yes to the church’s story doesn’t end our addiction to the world, but it ends our denial. And once we move out of denial, God is set loose in us in a way that wasn’t possible before. We are freed at last to become the gift of love that is our deepest nature, who we truly are.
When we enter the authentic church, we enter a recovering community rooted in honesty and accountability whose healing is found in reaching out to help heal the world. Like any addict, we’ll be there for the rest of our lives.