Wisdom On Display

I hate those moments in life where I get the awkward feeling that I have to do or say something really great. Mostly it has happened in classes. My mind spins as it considers if there is anything up there that might make me look really smart. My heart races. Then I usually say and do nothing because it seems like even my best ideas would come off as awkward and foolish.

Insightful revelations never seem to come when I want them most, they tend to hit me out of no where. The church celebrated Epiphany last week and it made me think about what the church is displaying to the world. What does the world see, hear, and experience through us. How can our awkwardness display the wisdom of God? Can God's extravagant love and forgiveness shine through a people who are more known for being judgmental and exclusive? Is there still surprising beauty emanating from a people who continue to choose power, violence, and comfort over sacrifice and suffering?

Paul is talking about how God's mysterious plan has been revealed in Ephesians 3. This mysterious plan is so awesome because it shows that God's love is not reserved for the insiders, there is no longer an us and them. There are no longer Gentiles, no longer outsiders, there are only those God loves. There are only children of God. Maybe this is how it was always supposed to be, but history shows how difficult it is to embrace such a great gift without becoming entitled and isolated. Eph. 3:10 says that God actually shows his beautiful wisdom in all its variety through the church, and it blows away all of the universe.

His beauty is revealed in a Mega Church that brings thousands into the Kingdom, where hundreds are baptized. His wisdom is revealed through the tiny church that has learned how to love the elderly well. His beauty is reveled through a Young Life leader who is willing to do the grossest, wildest, most embarrassing things imaginable in order to earn a place to speak God's love into the real heart of teenager. His love is revealed in the church that sits together over a meal and allow joyful laughter to spill all over the table. His wisdom is revealed in the church that has a passion for the homeless or passion for prayer or passion for world missions or just the simple passion to persevere as a healing presence in their neighborhood. We'd like to imagine that the church that reveals God's wisdom looks like the one we go to (or even lead) but the truth is our churches are a part of the rich variety of God's wisdom, we can play no more than the part we were called into being to play.

Our foolish, awkward churches display the beauty and wisdom of God in all of its variety. His mysterious plan is that we should all make up something so strange, so diverse, so complicated, so dynamic that the overlaying theme of love would draw the worlds eyes away from all of our misguided attempts to bring the Kingdom in our own way. It's like those painting that look like a ton of dots. The real picture isn't seen on the surface because the dots distract. But when you relax your eyes and ignore the details, a picture pops out at you. I don't want to pastor a perfect church, just a church that is a faithful witness to the extravagant, generous love of Jesus the Messiah. We want to declare to our neighbors and neighborhood that God loves them. And we pray that they might see beyond all of our failures in order to catch a glimpse of the the beautiful wisdom of God.