What Do My Friends and Family Hear From Me?

I was deeply moved this morning by Scotty Smith's prayer for the day from his blog Heavenward.  Click Here for the entire prayer post.

This is our defining and delighting identity as your church—your called-out, beloved people.

     Our organization and flow charts don’t define us.  Our ecclesiastical heritage and theological nuancing don’t define us. Our worship style and pulpit don’t define us. Our mission statement and ministries don’t define us. Your unbreakable commitment to us and inexhaustible love for us are what make us who we are, and thrill us beyond all imagining, Lord Jesus.

     We are the people upon whom you have set your heart, for whom you gave your life, and to whom you are returning as a great Bridegroom. Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! There’s no other relationship that comes close to offering the peace, joy and hope as your relationship with us.

At Christ Covenant we do indeed have many of these things:

• Ecclesiastical heritage - Reformed
• Theological nuancing - Evangelical Presbyterian Church
• Worship style - Click Here
• Mission statement - Click Here

I'm thankful that, for the most part, we seem to understand that all of these things flow from the central truth and experience of God's gracious love for us.  Grace is the reason and source of our ecclesiastical heritage, mission statement, etc.  It is good to be reminded of the importance of this order, so the prayer helped reaffirm that focus in my heart.

The challenge that I prayed about though was this: "What do our neighbors see and hear from us?  Do they perceive from our lives and statements that our mission is grounded in our identity of being loved by a God of grace?  Or do they think that we think of ourselves as loved by God because of what we do, believe or say?"

In all human relationships, communication is not just what we say.  It is also what is heard.  So what does our community hear from Christ Covenant?  Do they think that we are what we do - the sum total of our programs - for good or back?

I rather suspect that they sense that in our minds, we believe ourselves to be "unique" and "special," even loved by God because of what we do.  Some of that may be our sin - the disjuncture between our aspirations to live out of God's grace and the daily reality of our life and words.  That would be our shortcoming to own.

But I also suspect that the inclination of their hearts effect how they understand what they see and hear from us. It's hard to understand grace in the life of another if you have never experienced grace in your own.

So, .  .  .  . how are we to make sure that our friends, family and neighbors are hearing the message that we intend to live by?   Of course, we need to speak clearly and act consistently.  But we have come full circle here.  For our words and lives to be understood by others, the Father's grace must be at work in the lives of others.  And that rests with God through the power of the Holy Spirit.  Communicating the Gospel of grace effectively depends on the grace of the Father.  Our clarity and consistency can not become a new "works righteousness."  Our friends will understand grace by the same we have - grace alone.

Back to praying for a sovereign move of the Father's grace in our community!