Today a terrible thing happened. I lost my computer. It died. My pictures, my sermons, my music and my life were there one moment and gone the next. Now I have to go through the ordeal of salvaging what I can from the ruins. That’s kind of what we’re doing as a church isn’t it? We’re salvaging what we can amid the ruins.
The ruins are around us in one way or the other. We may find amid the ruins a church building that’s too expensive to keep up. We may find amid the ruins a Mother who can’t feed her children and has lost all hope. We may find amid the ruins children without faith because no one was there to guide and direct them. Amid the ruins people are walking with little faith, no direction and they’re searching for answers. These people are a testament to our blindness. They are a testament to our forgetfulness. They show us what happens when we forget to live in the world, instead of apart from it. Amid the ruins we see what happens when we pull ourselves so far away that we cease to make any impact at all.
The ruins are there and we need to rebuild them. We are living in ruins ourselves and we need to rebuild so we can make an impact with others. Jesus did this. He lived amid the ruins. He embraced the pain and emptiness. He offered love and salvation. He was one guy, sharing a message and making a difference with the people who needed him the most. He lived with people, not apart from them and this is what he calls us to do. We’re called to share a message. We’re called to live in relationship. We’re called to live amid the ruins and help people rebuild.
I’ve spent the day trying to rebuild my life in technology. Piece by piece, step by step, picture by picture, I’ve fought for those memories. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if we loved people enough to put in this kind of effort for them? Wouldn’t it be wonderful if we cared enough about the Gospel to live it. To breath it. To help rebuild for the future. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if we served amid the ruins?
