Saturday, May 16, 2009

It Takes Diff'rent Strokes To Move The World, Yes It Does, It Takes Diff'rent Strokes To Move The WOOOOOORLD

It was a simple, responsive act. The song during the church service moved her to stand, close her eyes and raise her hand as she sang along. She was the only one in the room doing so and, generally, this isn't the SOP of our church members. After the service, I overheard someone seated near her make a comment that "they hope our youth group isn't going charismatic."

Granted.

It was one person's response...in both cases.

It's how the college girl expresses herself in worship. The commenter has a more reserved demeanor in church services.

People will walk out of a sermon in a church our size and there will be people who say that the sermon was lacking in some form or fashion. Others will download that very same sermon as soon as possible because of how much their life was affected by the words the pastor said.

A small group can get together and have a discussion and one person's outlook on something profoundly changed and lead them to repentance. Someone in that same study can come out and tell their friends they're pretty much leaving that study because the discussions are pointless.

A mom can tell me that her daughter has never felt more alienated in her life by me and the youth group. Two years later that same mom will tell me that her son would die for me and his small group cronies.

This is a well-worn path here at The Diner (and I'm beginning to think all the paths are well-worn at this juncture)...

...but one size doesn't fit all in our Tribe.

...and you have no idea who might be listening.

...and you have no idea who might be watching.

...and we should all have moments, even in our own gatherings, where we feel far afield from those around us.

...and we should all have moments where we have to get over ourselves and what we want/like. For those of you who speak Christianese, that's loosely translated, "Love and serve others."

...and everybody's not at the same place in their journey. I'll reference those who are mature enough to understand Christianese that very same loosely translated phrase above.

Again:

It ain't about you.

It ain't about me.

It's about us.

The sooner we get that through our thick skulls, the better.

And, no, you won't get the specific incident that triggered these thoughts...but suffice to say that, lady, you know little, if anything about me other than what you've presupposed or prejudged or and other "pre" word you want to use. And, if you'd just pop by my office you could have a cup of bad coffee and we could get to know each other a bit better.

That's not to say that we'll ever like each other. Then again, we just might. Who knows?

But I'm pretty sure we could at least understand each other better.

And we'd do well to understand that The Kingdom is big enough and broad enough for all of us.

Right?

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