West Cocoa Chat

It took "Part 2" of my "Lid" series long enough to get here. One more delay:

Our youth group at church performed the "Who Am I / White Glove Skit" at our church yesterday. They were outstanding. This is the link to view it on You Tube. Kudos to "Miss Lee / Elly Mae" as we fondly call her at our church. She is the creative engine behind these teens and there is no end in sight as to what she and the teens can do at our church and other venues with drama. The link is http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6dWFg0UI-m8

Kind of a nice transition for what I want to write about. Drama being performed at our church a few years ago would have been taboo. The "lid" was on at our church and I think the best way to explain what I mean as well as my other post concerning the Richland Hills Church being "voted off the Island" would be to look at Mark 5.

21When Jesus had again crossed over by boat to the other side of the lake, a large crowd gathered around him while he was by the lake. 22Then one of the synagogue rulers, named Jairus, came there. Seeing Jesus, he fell at his feet 23and pleaded earnestly with him, "My little daughter is dying. Please come and put your hands on her so that she will be healed and live." 24So Jesus went with him.

A large crowd followed and pressed around him. 25And a woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years. 26She had suffered a great deal under the care of many doctors and had spent all she had, yet instead of getting better she grew worse. 27When she heard about Jesus, she came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak, 28because she thought, "If I just touch his clothes, I will be healed." 29Immediately her bleeding stopped and she felt in her body that she was freed from her suffering.

30At once Jesus realized that power had gone out from him. He turned around in the crowd and asked, "Who touched my clothes?"
31"You see the people crowding against you," his disciples answered, "and yet you can ask, 'Who touched me?' "
32But Jesus kept looking around to see who had done it. 33Then the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came and fell at his feet and, trembling with fear, told him the whole truth. 34He said to her, "Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering.

On the way to heal Jarius's daughter, Jesus has this encounter with a woman who has at least a couple of marks (no pun intended) against her with respect to seeing, approaching, and touching Jesus. First, she is a woman and second, she is unclean due to having a blood issue. All the rules, teachings, and traditions of the Pharisees and even in some cases, Scripture states to her - stay away and certainly do not touch. It goes without saying that Jesus' is on "official business" as he is on the way to Jarius' home, the home of a man who knows religion, knows the rules, and more importantly, plays by them.

With the lid of orthodoxy and legalism on the box, this woman takes a number with respect to Jarius' daughter and many of those present including Jesus' Disciples might say she doesn't get a number. This is not how we do ministry around here. But ministry breaks out and it does so in the guise of healing and power from Jesus himself! Look at what Jesus says in verse 30. He was being touched by a lot of people but some how, this woman, had physically and spiritually by faith - broken through the barriers of people and orthodoxy to claim healing and even power.

I believe the same thing can happen with churches. What has happened at Central is more than just a change in worship style. I believe we like many churches, have come to realize that orthodoxy limits ministry and ultimately the life changing, life bringing, and life sustaining power of Jesus. There have been numerous creative people at our church, touched by the Holy Spirit to start a ministry only to be told:
1. We can't do that here.
2. We can't do it that way.
3. We can't partner up with those people or that church.


But now it seems ministry is breaking out at our church because people realize what Jesus can do for not only their lives but the lives of others. I think they also realize that if they can dream it, pray it, and conceptualize it - if it is a way that we can reach out in the name of Jesus the only "club rule" is - do it! Do it to whom ever, ask any one any where to help, and don't limit what your God given talent will allow you to do.

The operative statement here is when the woman says, "If I just touch him, I'll be healed." To boil it down further, in the name of Jesus, "If I ........," can happen at our church and it can happen at yours, when the walls of orthodoxy come down and the power of the Word and the Lord are released from the traditions of men.

Our church isn't perfect, not even close. But what I love about our church is that we know it, we embrace it, and we strive to depend on the Lord to use the talents of any one, in any way, to heal with power of the risen Christ.

Do not be afraid of being "voted off the island." Like the woman of Mark 5, push through the crowd even if that be another church, churches, para-church organization, or even a publication listing you as one of their own. In the end, it will be the "final exam" of Matthew 25 that matters the most.

Have a blessed day.