Plenty of bad jokes and truly destructive stories could be told about strangers who meet in bars, but Christ's life-giving and restorative presence will not be denied a seat anywhere that we go...
Our leadership team meets weekly in the bar/lounge of a local restaurant to discern action and plan activities for our faith community. So last night we got together and you could feel the joy of being together just oozing out of our booth with all the hearty laughter and the intensity of the dialogue. After 15 minutes of this ooze, we began with a Bible study as we usually do and we were suddenly quite quiet as we each studied the text at hand. A man seated beside us (a stranger) leaned over and made a comment about the sudden change of volume and we told him we were doing a Bible study which took him a little off guard I think.
We moved from quietly studying the text to discussing the text, which happened to be about being “salt” and “light” in the world. Again, the dynamic life and energy at the table was so thick you could taste it as we shared our thoughts and feelings about this scripture as it related to us as individuals and as it relates to our life together as a community. We talked about adding flavor to the world around us, being that which preserves and sustains, shining through ‘how we are’ as opposed to ‘what we think’ or the 'things we do.' We engaged issues surrounding authenticity, depth of life, and Christ’s radical call to live differently in the world and for the world God loves.
The stranger in the bar who had become our neighbor walked over and wished us well as he headed to the doorway to head home (wherever that home was---or did he stop by because this booth felt like home?). It was almost as if he wanted another touch of this unexpected ‘something’ that was happening beside him.
We spent some time talking about the business at hand and departed for home ourselves. Before heading to bed, I went to the computer and found an e-mail from one of our leaders in of all place the junk e-mail folder. In part, this completely unjunky and pricelessly valuable correspondence said this:
"I walked in tonight with a heart and mind full of stress - racing a million miles an hour. After a couple hours of being in the presence of the amazing thoughtful and joyful people that you are, I walked out feeling loved, having laughed, being restored, and for the first time all day...... my heart was calm. Thank you for sharing your light with me and for "being" you.”
Thank you to Christ.
who we follow wherever that may lead---
who calls and energizes us to be light and salt---
for each other
for the stranger
for the world
strangers on this road we are all, we are not two we are one
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As I've heard Steve say before, "it's so fun being curch in the world!" The new (actually very old) and unexpected ways in which ROJ is being the church is exactly the way I envision Jesus out there connecting with the world. In an authentic way that gets outside the 4 walls of a church and into people's everyday lives. At a bar, at a park, in our neighborhoods, everywhere...are people waiting to be loved on.
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