RECOVER verb: to get back :
regain2 a: to bring back to normal position
rescue3 a: to make up for
b: reach5: to find or identify again
I've come to think about the human life as being a journey of recovery. God pursuing us and recovering us to our intended state. Restoring us to the former condition in which He created us in His image. The Eden before the Fall. The "thy" will be done before the "my" will got in the way. It's a journey toward wholeness, and a process that won't be complete this side of life. But nevertheless, the journey is one of increasing freedom and abundant life if we follow Christ and surrender to God's love and recovery work.
It stands to reason, then, that since the Church is a community of human beings, there is need for the power of Christ to recover her to His original design. I just spent the past two days in a learning community in Dallas, TX, with 45 people representing 9 other churches around our country. Reggie McNeal and Eric Swanson, leaders of the learning community, spoke to us about being missional Church. I'll probably spend some time these next few days processing some of the learnings on this blog. As I listened to the men speak, though, it became clear to me that these learning communities were much like recovery groups I've attended. We grow in awareness as we share in community what we need to "unlearn" about the Church that is deeply embedded within us due to culture and structures/systems we've created. Ways we have replaced the reign of God with our own reign. Idols that have mastered us and enslaved us. We grow as we share the vision of what God's intended condition for His Church is, and as we encourage and inspire one another with tools and practices that help us to learn to walk in the freedom of the Spirit to be the community of faith that Christ intended. It is a journey from control to surrender/growth, a journey from fear to trust/freedom, a journey from brokenness to wholeness. I look forward to sharing with you some insights from this Missional Renaissance Learning Community.
Welcome home, Laura! I'm intrigued to read what you're learning...you're right about our life being one of recovery. All of us on a journey, falling down, getting up, helping someone else up, and beginning again... under the grace of God.
ReplyDeleteThis makes perfect sense. I think that wherever we are in life, we are somewhere on this journey. Once we realize that putting "thy" before "my" is what makes our life easier to manage. I think in my life I often ask myself what should I do? How should I handle this? When often I need to sit back and just let God do his work. When I do that, it makes life so much easier because then I'm not in charge, I'm just along for the ride. Great thoughts Laura, keep us posted!
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