Writing Again

If I could write about anything what would it be? I have this clear mandate to write but I can’t help thinking that what I write is just ... well pedantic. I struggle to see how what I write relates to people where they are as opposed to the wild and rambling imaginations of my own mind.

I was talking about happiness with a friend of mine. He was saying that he wanted to write about the Happy Church just because it was fun to write about it. So much of what we do relates to our being happy. So is everything we do self-centred? Are all our activities an attempt to stroke our own egos and satisfy our own longings? Is there any altruism in the world? I wonder ...

As he speaks about the Happy Church all kinds of images come to mind. I try to imagine what a happy church really is. I actually have this 1950’s image come to mind of everyone dressed up and smiling as they come out of church. Dad in a suit, Mom in this summer dress with a crinoline and the girls in pretty dresses and the boys in white shirts and ties. Maybe it’s just the strange way images connect in my mind. The phrase “happy church” begs the question “What is church?” That has been bugging me for such a long time and has made me question my role as a pastor and a leader. I’m too much of a questioner to accept the status quo and to keep doing the same thing week after week. Yet I keep doing the same thing week after week and feeling a bit dissatisfied about it all.

What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God—through Jesus Christ our Lord! Romans 7:24-25