My family jokes about how dramatic I can be.
What can I say? I’ve always had an inclination to be on stage.
Every year up to middle school I was in the school play. Teachers gave me main parts because I was loud and could memorize lines. Then there were the class presentations, talent shows and the drum line. I’ve always had a stage. When I first sensed a calling to pastoral ministry, my first task was to ensure I wasn’t looking for another one.
But, in a way, you and I have a calling to theatre. The church has a stage upon which the world watches. Maybe I could say, the church is a stage. I don’t mean we are to be full of drama and theatrics.
Lord knows we don’t need any more of that.
No, I’m thinking of a comment regarding a passage from Ephesians 3. The verse says, “so that through the church the wisdom of God in its rich variety might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places” (3:10). That suggests the wisdom of God displays through us, the church, the mystery of God even to the heavens. Angels are even learning from us!
The comment I wanted to share is this: “the Church of Christ is the grand theatre in which the divine wisdom is most signally displayed.”
Now, we aren’t putting on a show, as if we were merely acting out some play. But we are enacting the great truth of God. That, in Christ, God has united all people in love and salvation. If we aren’t showing that, we’re not being the church. At least, not God’s church.
So, our ministries should include everyone. Our worship should be for everyone. Our welcome to anyone and everyone who God brings to us should be one of the enactments we prioritize.
Again, we aren’t play acting. As the grace of God enfolds us more, we are displaying to the world how that grace lives.
Stay blessed…john
