The Bald Goat

Well, I didn’t get many comments from my last blog post.  I am sure that the 18 million people who visited my site had something to contribute…

What was that?

Oh…18 people…not 18 million…

Thank you Google Analytics for keeping me humble…

I do get comments, some on the web, and some in person.  I really appreciate the feedback.  It turns this into a conversation instead of a lecture! (Really, who wants a lecture!?)

I love the song in the last post.  I hope you took the time to listen to it.  It is beautiful and poignant.  There are a few things that I want to point out from the song that I think sum up the point of this portion of my thoughts about ordinary people.

There is a committed relationship.  The man is singing to his beloved and his message is one of unity.  He is not hiding any of the feelings that they both share.  They both make mistakes and they both often feel like giving up and walking away, but they are committed to one another and this relationship.  Do we see this kind of relationship of commitment in the body of Christ?  How about just in your local church you are a part of?  This disunity that I mentioned in part 2a comes from our lack of commitment to our church family.  We don’t see it like we see a marriage or our view of marriage is shaky.  The last thing we want to happen to a marriage is divorce.  The last thing we should want to happen in a church family is for someone to leave the family and try to find a place somewhere else or worse yet, to not care about finding that place.  This song gives us the picture of love we should see when we look at our church family.  Christ looks at the church as his bride and if we follow his example, we would too.

A friend shared a story with me of a time when she heard through the grapevine that her son had gotten a tongue ring.  She was so upset about this.  She admits that she does not know why it upset her so much, but she was livid.  She went right up to him and told him that it was either her or the tongue ring.  She walked out the door to leave and go to work, but before she ever reached her car he turned her around and held out his hand.  In it was the tongue ring.  She meant more to him than any fashion statement.  He loved her enough to put aside what he wanted and what he thought was cool.  Because he loved her he made a sacrifice for her.  Do we love our church family enough to sacrifice for them? Even when we don’t agree with what is happening?  Especially when we don’t agree with what is happening?  Do we love them this much?

As we look more at this song we see a story of give and take.  Back and forth.  One line says “as our love advances we take second chances”.  We don’t have the patience for second chances without love.  We don’t give second chances without a love that doesn’t keep a record of wrong.  We need a love that hopes.  A love that perseveres. A love that never fails.

The climax of the song does a back and forth with possibilities…

live and learn…crash and burn

maybe you’ll stay…maybe you’ll leave…maybe you’ll return

maybe another fight…maybe we won’t tonight

and then the final line with hope and encouragement says “maybe we’ll grow”…

There is a love that doesn’t want to give up.  There is a love that will give it a second chance.  There is a love that grows closer and tighter through the good times and the bad.  There is a love of Christ.

There is a line in this song repeated dozens of times “Maybe we should take it slow”.  When I hear this I think of the verse in James 1:19:

Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, for man’s anger does not bring about the righteous life that God desires.

It is like the temper tantrum control method where we take a deep breath, count to ten, and then react.

I guess sometimes we could count to 10,000 and we still struggle to find peace and love for our church family.  We need to take things slow and allow ourselves to handle difficult situations with love.  We need to be committed enough to each other that we are willing to take it slow, to love like Christ, and find a way to make things work.

We need to love these ordinary people.

We need to be loved as we, too, are ordinary people.

Then, because we love each other enough to get along, our efforts will be united to heal our hurting world.

Then, because we love each other enough to get along, the good news of God can be heard.

Because we love each other enough.