What if we could have a DO-OVER?
We—meaning the Church. Not me. Not you. But WE.
I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately. I’m not sure why. At first it seemed overwhelming. I’d think about us—us being the Church—and it made my head spin. I’d imagine the sheer number of us. The scattering of us. The history of us. The fracturing of us. And it seemed impossible. Utterly, overwhelmingly, massively impossible.
But not for Him.
Not for Him, right? Not for Jesus?
Isn’t He everywhere at once? Everywhere in proximity. Everywhere in history. Everywhere in circumstance. He is there and here.
So why not?
Why not imagine one ginormous glorious do-over? Just for fun. Let’s do it. Let’s imagine together.
What if we could go back and try again? From the beginning of this movement? This Ekklesia movement? This Way of Jesus movement? What if we could go back and be the people He meant us to be?
Here is what I imagine.
Pentecost. Let’s start there. Let’s imagine ourselves there.
Diversity. Language. Jew and Gentile. Slave and Free. Man and Woman. Together. There.
We move and we multiply and we make our way across this globe, but we are determined this time to STAY TOGETHER.
Like a family with small children in an amusement park. We grasp hands; we tether our rope; or at the very least we don our tie-died matching t-shirts so we can keep our eye on each other and no matter how many amusements vie for our attention we know there is one thing that ultimately matters—and that is coming out of this chaos TOGETHER.
We’ve got to do this together.
That said. From the beginning our biggest temptation will be joining ourselves to the Powers That Be and we will need to remember those are NOT OUR POWERS. They live among us and over us and their presence is strong, but we will not become them. We will not be fooled. Our power is wholly different from theirs. Our power is beautiful.
Our power is LOVE.
I know. Some of you read this and it makes you nervous because we’re so far removed and there’s been so much damage and we hardly know what it is anymore. HIS LOVE. But there is no denying Love’s presence, the thread of this story, the rope holding us together, and if this Do-Over has a chance we’ll need to recapture the right kind of LOVE.
Imagine. A do-over through the eyes of Jesus. Jesus who rightly sees sinners. Whose heart beats compassion. Who’s not afraid of the human condition. Who gets in the mess. Who washes feet. Who dies.
A Do-Over mission. Let’s try again to be led by Him.
Listen. Yes we will scatter. We scatter across peoples and nations and language and history. But not once do we lose sight of each other. Not once believing the lie that our way is better. No. No. No. We are not better. We are TOGETHER. And our way is HIS.
Imagine.
A history where we are always the ones doing good. We heal. We serve. We bend low. We wash feet and tie shoes and lend hands. And our hands do not wound. Our hands do not harm. Our hands do not take life; they do not destroy it. Our hands nurture and plant things, they heal and create things. Our hands reach out and touch with the touch of His Love.
We are the Body.
HIS BODY.
WE ARE HIM.
What if we had a chance to do it over again?
Okay, here’s the real kicker. In order to do this over, we’ll need to THINK together. Yikes. I know. This is the real dilemma. What does this even look like? Is thinking together a holy idea?
What if?
We go back. Back to Pentecost. Back to the Spirit. Back to Jesus. Back to surrender. Back to empty. Back to listening. Everyone listening. Letting Him lead us. Letting Him teach us. Back to our Teacher. Back only to HIM.
Him in flesh… and Him in SPIRIT.
He did not mean for us to do this alone. To be independent. To be our own wisdom. He meant for us to do this AS HIM.
DO OVER.
What if?
Impossible. For us. But not for HIM.
If, then, there is any encouragement in Christ, if any consolation of love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any affection and mercy, make my joy complete by thinking the same way, having the same love, united in spirit, intent on one purpose. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility consider others as more important than yourselves. Everyone should look not to his own interests, but rather to the interests of others.
Adopt the same attitude as that of Christ Jesus… (Philippians 2:1-5)