Come and See (click for Today's Bible passage)

"What are you up to?"

"Well, every week, I head out to Unos. I sit at a table, enjoy the company of whomever happens to pass by, and talk with the servant staff and the people I meet."

"That's it?!"

"Well, yes and no. You see, as I talk with people you learn a lot. You discover a little about their family life, get to know who they are, and you start to call them by their name. It might seem odd but I know a lot more about some of the people I see each week, than I ever did sitting in my church pew."

"How is that possible? How can that even be "church"?"

"Come and see."

...................................

There is the conversation I have many times with so many different people. You might recognize them as the ones who head each week dutifully to their local church to be in fellowship with other Christians. For many this seems to work for them. But for many of the people I see each week, church is an empty place where they feel disconnected.

So, each week I head out to listen. Conversation might be about God, or who this Jesus guy really was/is for me. Sometimes we just check in to see how God might be at work in a person's life that week. That connection to a spiritual life is an important one for people. The connection comes when we discover how God is at work in our lives and sometimes it is worth sitting down just to figure that out together. Often the "figuring" comes in seeing God at work in one another.

These are the kinds of encounters BTW leaders have every week. Does this matter? Absolutely.

I'm reminded of this great German film, Run, Lola, Run. In this film, Lola takes off and as she runs seemingly out of control, she knocks into people (running over some at times). When this happens we get a series of snapshots that show a little bit about what happens next in the other person's life. Sometimes the actions that follow are comic, sometimes tragic, but we are meant to see how we are connected to one another when this happens. Subtle shifts in how we do things effect other people. Such is the case as we get three different possible storylines for Lola. Just when one thread ends, we somehow telescope back to the beginning and we are off on another kinetic journey.

As Jesus walked about, some saw something in him. The very first followers of Jesus were unsure about just who he was and what he was about. In fact, Jo (the guy I wrote about last month) even loses a few of his own followers when he points out how much more important Jesus is. Even then, these folks are skeptical. Jesus does not say, "Well, you have to sit in the synagogue for a few months each week and hear about God." No, his mission is to help people see God in the dirty, every day streets and alleys, in the fields, in the very dust that greets their feet, to reconnect to one another as neighbor.

"What are you looking for?" Jesus asks. The response is odd, "Teacher, where are you staying?"

Nice evasion don't you think? Isn't Jesus' question the same one we often hear asked of us? And the response is one of location not vocation. The response has to do with place setting, not life changing living. Yet, Jesus response is fascinating.

It is inviting, "Come...", and it is an opportunity to open our eyes to something different, "and see."

"Come and see." You are invited into a new way of living and experiencing faith in your daily living. Come, reconnect, and see where God is calling you.