Messiness and Mission

For a number of years a puzzle has traveled with me to varying pastoral appointments. I'm not sure who blessed me with it, though it probably was my wife. Once put together the puzzle's message reads: "Messiness Is A Sure Sign of Creativity". Nonetheless, this puzzle has entertained toddlers whose parents have come to see me, and occasionally - every once in a while - I even take a stab at putting it together myself - sometimes successfully! It occurs to me that a puzzle which carries this theme is self-contradicting. Even puzzles have nice well-defined boundaries, and only really work one way. Such is not the essence of much of what I find myself engaged in on a day-to-day basis.

Life itself, and ministry in the name of Christ can be downright messy. There. I said it. For an ENFP such as myself this rolls off the tongue like the water cascading over Niagra Falls. But in communities like the church there is diversity. Not everyone sees the world correctly like me. (tongue firmly planted in cheek) Some people like having well-defined, neatly packaged, consistently predictable - life. This does not make them bad people - just frustrated. Their frustration stems mostly from LIFE'S seeming inability or natural inclination against producing such a neatly packaged world. How often have we heard, or do we say that, God is not the author of chaos? Yet, the Genesis accounts of creation describe chaos as God's mid-wife; the birthing room for the ordered universe we all treasure. If God is the author and creator of all things, then even chaos exists by some intention, and plays an important role. Act II of a play can be very confusing if someone forgets to stage Act I first.

Where all this meandering takes me is an observation. Years ago I read a quote, the source of which I cannot identify. It goes something like this: "The church is not a hotel for saints but a hospital for sinners." You may choose to argue the merits of such a statement. You may respond as one French philosopher long ago, "All generalities are false....and so is this one! "The glaring reality for the 21st century followers of Christ is that we are people on a shared journey. As much as we may try to believe otherwise, we are people of the tabernacled -community (portable/movable) more than people of the temple (immovable/unchanging). If we are in any measure a hospital for sinners then the model is more a M.A.S.H triage unit than a gothic cathedral. Thus, there is a symbiotic relationship between messiness and mission.

I see evidence of this on a regular basis in: children who ask the "wrong" questions during worship.....birds that fly into sanctuaries on Christmas Eve.....policemen who interrupt outdoor worship services in the name of sound ordinances..... work teams encountering unexpected changes.....homeless families uprooting Sunday School classes throughout the year....in bags of non-perishable groceries in the narthex (and the bags tear)....in worship services that force us to leave the comfort of a pew and walk with fellow pilgrims outdoors not knowing what comes next. As much as we may try to program these sorts of things out of our normal day-to-day existence....they occur anyway. At least they occur where the creative power of God is visible, or where the people of God choose to be attentive.

Maybe all of us would do well to be slow in naming chaos as "evil" or "bad". Maybe we should look for God's fingerprints in the midst of the messiness that exists in all of our lives (individual and communal), and respond with thanksgiving. Maybe messiness is (at least sometimes)....a sure sign of creativity.......or better yet - an opportunity to embrace, and be embraced by THE LOVING CREATOR.

In Christ,

Jon(the methodist)