Seeds in the ground, prayers on the air

My self-appointed guru, Dottie Escobedo-Frank, asks this of our churches in her wonderful book ReStart: "The world doesn't come into our sanctuaries much anymore, though I hear they really do want to worship with us. They just don't like what they see, smell, and hear. And so the world worships where they can: at concerts, at nationally televised funerals, and in nature. These are good places to worship, because anywhere God is, that is a good place to worship God. ...so we must regain our place of beauty. It is not a position of power, success, or numerical significance. It is a position of ashes, death, service, humility and great grace."

Uh, wow.

She concludes, "Unfortunately, we are so busy declining we don't have time to feed the sheep."

Have you looked around at what you've done recently in your church? Or for that matter, outside of your church? Is it (the ministry of the church) a position of ashes, death, service, humility and great grace or is it a place of beauty? Seriously. Which is it?

The life and breath of our churches is slowly being extinguished because we're so unadaptable we can't see the beauty beyond the ashes.

Jesus described this process this way: "Look, fool! When you put a seed into the ground, it doesn’t come back to life unless it dies. What you put in the ground doesn’t have the shape that it will have, but it’s a bare grain of wheat or some other seed. God gives it the sort of shape that he chooses, and he gives each of the seeds its own shape. (I Corinthians 15:36-39, CEB)

In examining what must come next in both my own life and in the great adventure we will embark on together, Mary, Elizabeth Tu'uta, Sione Tu'uta, and myself, two months from today, we must first cover this in prayer.

So, I offer up Paul's prayer for the church in Philippi: Every time I think of you, I give thanks to my God. Whenever I pray, I make my requests for all of you with joy, for you have been my partners in spreading the Good News about Christ from the time you first heard it until now. And I am certain that God, who began the good work within you, will continue his work until it is finally finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns. I pray that your love will overflow more and more, and that you will keep on growing in knowledge and understanding. For I want you to understand what really matters, so that you may live pure and blameless lives until the day of Christ's return. May you always be filled with the fruit of your salvation-the righteous character produced in your life by Jesus Christ-for this will bring much glory and praise to God. (NLT)

I pray for newness of life. I pray for inspiration. I pray for beauty. I pray for grace. I pray for fruit.