Is the church an organization or an organism? Well, it is organized with members, non-members, leaders and followers. Some churches are incorporated, with board members, committees and trustees. Yes, the church is an organization per se, but I am here to tell you that it is a living, breathing organism.

 

or·gan·ism

/ˈôrɡəˌnizəm/

noun

An individual animal, plant, or single-celled life form.

• the material structure of an individual life form.
• a whole with interdependent parts, likened to a living being.

The church is a living, breathing organism…not literally, like something out of a Stephen King novel, but as the body of Christ, we truly are. The church is a sum of the many interdependent parts, all working together for the Kingdom of God.

The community, that’s something entirely different. The community is an ecosystem, made up of different organisms, living together in a symbiotic relationship. When all organisms are healthy, the ecosystem thrives, but when one or more organisms is unhealthy, the ecosystem suffers. We see that in nature all the time.

Here in Waycross we are blessed to live by a beautiful and wonderful ecosystem, the Okefenokee Swamp. Swamps are among the most valuable ecosystems on Earth. They act like giant sponges or reservoirs. When heavy rains cause flooding, swamps and other wetlands absorb excess water, moderating the effects of flooding. … The swamp ecosystem also acts as a water treatment plant, filtering wastes and purifying water naturally. When excess nitrogen and other chemicals wash into swamps, plants there absorb and use the chemicals. What do you think would happen if some aspect of the ecosystem, like the flora was damaged or destroyed? It would affect the entire ecosystem and if bad enough, possibly the entire earth.

The church and community are linked together in this wonderful, symbiotic relationship…dependent on each other. When something changes in either part, it affects the other. The challenge is to recognize this and to act accordingly. As the community, or neighborhood changes, the church MUST adapt or it will eventually die off. How is your churches relationship with its community? Do you recognize the health of your church and community or are you oblivious to their condition?

fragmented

[frag-muh n-tid, -men-, frag-men-]

adjective

1. reduced to fragments.
2. existing or functioning as though broken into separate parts; disorganized; disunified:

a fragmented personality, a fragmented society.

(Dictionary.com)

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This is where I begin… living in a fragmented world.

The world around me is broken, splintered into numerous camps of us and them, each side adamant to its supremacy. It seems to me that if you choose a camp, then you must in the most vicious and vocal way, do everything you can to destroy the other side.

Compromise is dead.

What happened? How did we get to this place, or has it always been this way but I was too blind to see.

These are the questions I ask myself all the time. My heart breaks for the disunity of our society. Racism, sexism, classism, all of that which solely exists to divide…it breaks my spirit.

This is where I begin.

As a Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) minister, I am charged to do all I can through Christ and his church to be a movement of wholeness to this broken and fragmented world. That is part of our identity statement. This is who we are. This is who I am.

Over the last few years I have gone through a such a metamorphoses that I can hardly recognize the person I once was. It is a frightening thing not to recognize yourself, or the world you once belonged. I have at times found myself out of place within my church, my community,  my political party…like a stranger in a strange land; fragmented. I am broken, conflicted, unsure and fearful.

This is where I begin.

Before I can be an agent of wholeness to a fragmented world, I need to seek wholeness for my broken and fragmented self. It is through Christ where I find comfort and strength; peace and wholeness. And it is on my knees, reaching up to the one who saved me where I surrender my anxiety, my worry, my fears…This is where I begin.