Faith Isn't a Thing. It's How You See Things.

"[Jesus] himself is before all things, and in him all things hold together. He is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that he might come to have first place in everything."

Colossians 1:17-18

It's funny how connected to the school year our lives remain, even years after we leave school. Everything seems to kick-start again in September.With a daughter in the public school system, for me it's even more of a stark change now, from "summer vacation" (which is its own kind of busy) to "busy," followed by "busier", "busiest," "winter break," "busy," "busier," "busiest", and back to "summer vacation".

Round and round we go.


And do you know? We wear it like a badge. We pant, we roll our eyes to our friends and neighbors, we laugh at ourselves for burning the candle at both ends, we burn out, we drop a bunch of stuff, we start to ease back in, we burn out again, and we acknowledge to anyone who'll listen just how ridiculous we think it is.


But we like it. We find worth in how much we can do. We wouldn't admit it publicly, but we like being wanted in more than one place at once, we like having a full calendar, flitting from place to place, putting out various fires in our lives. We idolize busy people. The best kind of person, for us, is a person whose every waking hour is accounted for, who's operating at maximum efficiency, who just could not possibly fit in one more thing.

Let me be clear about this: if you identify with this, I have zero intention of passing judgment on you. It's how I often operate too. There can be other posts about Sabbath rest: about finding our value, not in what we do, but in the fact that God values us, and how by God's grace, the world goes on even when we take a breather. We need those reminders too, but that's not what I want to talk about.

What I'd rather talk about right now is what often happens when we think of "church" as part of our list of "things". You know, that list of things that starts growing in September, and keeps growing in October, and by December is so long that only by virtue of a sugar-cookie-induced frenzy of holiday mania could you ever get to the bottom of it.

The list that you reevaluate in January...and start crossing the "non-essential things" off.

Mind you, you can be just about as busy as you want here at church. We do have a full calendar. I was here a couple Tuesdays ago and the building was being used by

seven

different

groups.

Seven.

Christian congregations are not the "busy-ness police". In fact, when we're not careful, showing up for every last event connected with a congregation can be a way of feeding our busy-ness addiction. "Church" as a list of events can be a medium for our mania: a way to distract ourselves from major problems in our lives, which our faith really ought to be helping us face head-on.

But there's a big, glaring difference between "church"--meaning, what you do with your brothers and sisters in Christ as part of this congregation in this place--and "faith", meaning your lifelong walk of trusting in Jesus Christ. "church" is a "thing", or maybe even a group of "things", that you can add and subtract from your list. 

Faith is not a thing, as such.

It's the way you see everything. Each thing in your life. It's not something you add to your schedule, and show up for at a given place and time. It's a perspective. It's the lens through which you see your whole life. How you spend your money, your time, your soul. 

You may think you know where I'm heading: that I'm going to end up giving you a pass, and telling you that you can worship where you are, on the soccer field or at the campground with the Scouts, or at the bar, or on the climbing wall.

Nope. Sorry.

Worship feeds our faith. Being accountable to other Christians, showing up for them, like they have agreed to show up for us, adding our voice and being built up by theirs, has been throughout the millennia one of the most reliable ways to be faithful, and being faithful is what having faith looks like when it's more than an idea: when it takes on flesh.

But worship is not the only way.

Worship--at least the kind of worship we strive for together--should feed into your week. It should adjust your lenses, and help you focus and see Jesus moving and dancing throughout the hectic week you're getting set for. It should connect you to the life you're already living, rather than introduce you to a whole new list of "church-y" things to do with your week.

Being in worship is important, and generally it won't happen by accident, so it's important to set goals (and not beat yourself up if you don't meet them! If you meet every last goal you set, you might want to set some more challenging goals!). But being in worship is not the same as faith. Going to church is not faith. Going to church is a thing. It's an important thing, but it's a thing. A blip on your Google calendar. A line in your paper planner. Faith is how you read the whole thing.