The Fool on the Will

I work at a church, although you would never guess it from spending time there. Oh, we can pull it together for some meetings on the Sabbath, but as anyone who has ever worked in a religious organization can tell you, Sunday is just a small part of the work. For a variety of reasons -- financial, clashing personalities, differing expectations, the world, the flesh, and the devil -- the place has turned a source of stress for everyone involved. It may be listed in the phone book under church, but what we're building seems like anything but.

How do you measure a church's success? The number of people packing the pews? A lot of programs? A nice property? Money in the bank? I think an equally important rubrik should include the Christlikeness of the people who dwell therein. Taking a look at the scriptures I see some of the qualities that should be evident:

* love; joy; peace; patience; kindness; goodness; faithfulness; gentleness; self-control (Galatians 5:22)
* tender mercy; kindness; humility; meekness; patience (Colossians 3:12-16)
* true; noble; just; pure; lovely; of good report; virtuous; worthy of praise (Phillipians 4:8)
* love that suffers long; is kind; does not envy; does not parade itself; does not get 'puffed up'; does not behave rudely; is not provoked; does not think evilly, nor rejoice in sin; rejoices in the truth; bears all things; believes all things; hopes all things; endures all things (1 Corinthians 13)

I don't know what we're all building, but using this criteria I can't say it's a church.

The other day I had an interesting experience. I had a coworker blow up at me. The ouburst was unprovoked, but what was interesting was what he said to me: among many other things, he said I wasn't a Christian. I remained silent so as not to escalate his anger, and refrained from giving him a lecture on the theology of salvation.

As I reflected on the days events that evening I really thought about what he said. I thought, "How judgemental. How misguided. How immature." But then I thought about it some more. Prayed about it. And I tried to see things from his point of view. What has my attitude been like these last few months? Confused... depressed... angry... impatient... easily provoked... divisive...

Darn. My coworker was absolutely right.

It's a baffling business. But I realize that it's not on Sunday mornings behind a pulpit that showcases my Christianity. It's my attitude and actions in the pressure cooker environment of the office in which my faith will be made real or not.