BACK TO NORMAL

I think if you asked just about anyone on the street what they'd really like to see happen soon, the top answer you'd get would be, "I'd just like everything to return to normal." 

Don't we all? Wouldn't that be wonderful! I know it seems pretty awesome to me. 

I know everyone's definition of normal isn't the same, but I still miss that time. You know, when we went to movie theaters and malls. When we didn't need to wear masks, we didn't argue about them or label people for their opinions on them. When people didn't huddle in their homes in fear. When we went to church on actual church campuses, in-person, and shook hands...and even hugged each other! 

Yep, I want to get back to some sense of normalcy so bad that I just ache for it. All the things I took for granted...I don't take any of them for granted anymore. Back to normal would be so awesome!

Or would it?

Recently, someone suggested that I watch a documentary. I'm not opposed to a good documentary. But, what one person thinks is a good documentary isn't always what another person would label "good." What ensued next was not what I was expecting. In fact, I wasn't prepared for what I saw and heard. 

As I write this blog, I have to admit some emotions come boiling to the surface and my eyes get a little hydrated. The documentary was called, Sheep Among Wolves, Vol. 2. It's the story of a place where Christianity is growing faster on this planet than in any other country...Iran. You probably didn't see that one coming, did you? 

Yes, it was exciting, encouraging, and unbelievable...but, most of all, it was convicting. Here are men and women living in a country where Christianity is outlawed. Yet the Church is growing rapidly. They have no buildings, no bank accounts, no assets, no freedom of religion or expression. Yet, many Iranian people are following Jesus...the Jewish Messiah (let that sink in for a moment). This belief is happening even at the cost of their lives. 

One story that is shared is one of an Iranian woman who told her husband as she left home in the morning,"I'm asking God to lead me to the right person to share Jesus with today. I know if I speak his name to the wrong person, I may be raped, beaten, thrown into prison, or even killed. But, I cannot keep silent. He has changed my life and I must share at all cost. I may never see you again, but I will spend eternity with you." 

And God does it! Again and again and again, He leads them to the right person, they speak the name of Jesus, and people run to Him. The mosques are becoming empty. The Church of Jesus Christ is spreading like wildfire and God's Spirit is doing amazing things. Things that we never see in the West. Things that we only read about in the Book of Acts and wonder why they never happen any longer.

I asked my son to watch it. He watched it that day and texted me simply, "Possibly the best thing I've ever watched in my life. Very emotional." 

Good synopsis. 

I've made a commitment to myself to watch it again next month and the next and once every month after that. I don't want to forget what God is doing and I just want to be a part of the same thing in my lifetime. Not in Iran. Right here in America.

I've been haunted by one question ever since I sat and watched that documentary. Have we... the Church in the West, the Church in America, the church I pastor...have we gotten it all wrong?  

Yesterday, my son called and we talked about what God is doing in his life. Then, he paused, and asked me a question. "Dad, I know you're a pastor of a church, so maybe this is a hard question for you, but do you ever wonder if we've gotten it all wrong? The eyes hydrated again. The emotions welled up from my stomach all the way to my throat. My voice quivered as I simply said, "Every day, son. Every day."

So, I wonder if you've wondered, "does the Church really need to get back to normal or possibly, does it need to get back to the idea that Jesus had for His Church when He laid down His life to create her? 

Do we need to return to "business as usual" or do we need to get to business as unusual? Are we longing for the comfort of what we've known all of our lives? Does God have a bigger, better plan? Is God using this time to reboot His Church into something that looks and feels like nothing we know, but everything He's ever wanted?

What would that look like? Would we lose members? Would it be awkward? Would it just be a new kind of "not normal" that we experience and long to just get out of? Possibly. 

All I know, (and that's not much), is that I've seen what God can do when it's all about Him and not at all about us and there is a longing in my heart to experience that in my lifetime. 

I believe there's my kind of right and Jesus' kind of right. I just want to see what happens when He actually becomes owner, operator and CEO of His Church. When we exist for his glory alone and not our own. I think it would be weird and uncomfortable and so different. Maybe we wouldn't like it and we'd want to go back to the way we used to do things, but we'd see what His power really looks like and what He does when His Church puts Him at the helm, and we'd never want to go back.