Love Does — A Quick Guide to Church and Faith
We do a lot of church these days! Wishing to collaborate with a broad swath of local faith communities, any given Sunday we may be “amening” with the Baptists, or “liturgizing” with the Methodists, or “hand raising” with our Assembly of God friends.
Our fellow sojourners may be young or old, Anglo or African American, Hispanic, Asian or Chin. Worship styles span the spectrum from a little bit country to a little bit rock-n-roll. Some experiences are highly polished and hip, while others, well one Sunday morning Sharon was invited to leave her seat and come sing on stage!
We feel enriched having worshiped in these diverse settings and getting to know our community’s churches. My best count shows 36 churches in our one zip code, 75067. Again, our hope is a grand collaboration of faith communities, the prayer of bringing a little heaven to earth in our 12 square mile community.
The reception of our mission, to be good neighbors, by connecting people into relationships, and serving the needs of our community has met mixed results. Many embrace this Jesus way, however others, like one pastor, after me explaining our work in neighborhoods and schools and senior adult homes, said “we don’t do those kinds of things”! Really?
Bob Goff’s book titled Love Does: Discover a Secretly Incredible Life in an Ordinary World is a must read. His message is reflected in the book’s title, and it is simply this — “love does”! He challenges the reader with thoughts such as, “What’s up with equating ‘Bible study’ with knowing God anyway”? or “I used to think I could learn about Jesus by studying Him, but now I know Jesus doesn’t want stalkers”.
My theologically astute friends will know the terms ortho-doxy (right belief) and orrtho-praxy (right practice). Both are important. They SHOULD go hand in hand. Occasionally both extremes can happen. HOWEVER, my experience is that we (the church) can easily list to “right belief” supported by endless information delivering – sermons, classes, Bible studies, seminars, books, blogs. In school terms, we would call this the theory without the lab.
One of our community’s churches is Vista Ridge United Methodist Church pastored by my friend Rev. Mary Beth Hardesty-Cro
uch. Week in and week out she delivers one of the best sermons you could ask for. Always with the benediction of going out into the “lab of life” and making a difference. Love does at this “non-mega” neighborhood church.
- Just ask Rockbrook Elementary School who benefited with 41 volunteers and a new reading program.
- Just ask Arbor House Memory Care Center and Vista Ridge Nursing Home who receive weekly Sunday worship services.
- Just ask Christian Community Action (CCA) who recognized Vista Ridge as the church of the year based on volunteerism.
Love does at Vista Ridge and to celebrate their recent 23rd church anniversary, you guessed it, they met at the church on a Sunday morning to pray and then went out into the community for a day of service!
I am so pleased to partner with churches in our community such as Vista Ridge UMC and others. My prayer is reflected in the words written by our brother James:
“Dear friends, do you think you’ll get anywhere in this if you learn all the right words but never do anything? Does merely talking about faith indicate that a person really has it? …You can no more show me your works apart from your faith than I can show you my faith apart from my works. Faith and works, works and faith, fit together hand in glove.” — James 2, The Message
Love Does!
Jim
John 1:14
