How would you describe the church? By that I mean what the Apostle’s Creed refers to as the “holy catholic church” – the universal church composed of all believers?
How would you characterize your own church, the local branch of the church of Christ?
Don KirklandBefore you answer, look in a mirror. You are the church. And so am I.
Chris George, senior pastor of First Baptist Church in Mobile, Ala., and a Greenville native, recently posed that question to his own congregation.
As they thought about an answer, he provided his own. “If I were asked to describe the church,” said George, “my response would be simple: We really are a motley crew.”
For that description, George, whose parents are members of First Baptist Church in Taylors, drew upon familiarity with a rock band of the ’80s called M?tley Cr?e.
This ragtag band of performers derived their name from another musician who described them as “a motley-looking crew.”
The word “motley” actually provides a surprisingly accurate image of the church. Anything called motley is made up of elements that are diverse, that do not seem to fit, that are not suitable for their surroundings.
A look at church history, George noted, reveals a past “filled with great courage and cowardice,” leading a Roman Catholic cardinal to lament that the church has done both more harm and good than any other institution.
“On the membership roles,” George pointed out, “we discover saints whose lives were selfless and sinners whose lives were consumed with selfishness.”
The fact is, the Mobile minister emphasized, “God’s people always have been a mixed bag.”
Happily, as George told his congregation, “God’s people include the imperfect as well. He calls not only to visionary leaders, but also to the blind. God gathers together not only the fleet footed, but also the lame. People deemed insignificant and unimportant are given a place of prominence.”
Thankfully, as George affirmed, this “strange mixture of all sorts of people” becomes something “more blessed and more beautiful” than one might expect. “We become a family of faith,” he said.
George pointed to a world in which “we desperately need to be surrounded by a spiritual family.”
He said, “We need people in our lives who can help us through our struggles, who can tell us the truth even when it is not easy, who can hold us accountable for our actions, and who can walk beside us as we strive to live as faithful and faith-filled people.”
He continued, “We come together in this motley crew called God’s church and we covenant as a community to follow faithfully and to love unconditionally. We come to church to find a community that proclaims God’s forgiveness and also offers forgiveness. We come to a church where we are committed to pray for one another, to encourage one another and to inspire one another. We come to church so that we can learn together and, with the help of others, we may see more clearly.
We come to a church, George said in conclusion, where “God embraces us as we are and proudly proclaims, ‘I am the Father’ – even of this motley crew.”
Of course, George had First Baptist of Mobile mainly in mind as he preached. But his description of what the church is, and what it ought to be, is applicable to any of the bodies of Christ that offer light to our world. To his message, I add only my “amen” and the opening lyrics of a song I like: “I’m so glad I’m a part of the family of God.” And what a family it is.