Tags
connection, culture, faith, families, rejection, relationships
I’m going to just put in a good word here for community, fellowship, the family of God. We are a family, a tribe, a community. People who know Jesus Christ are no longer alone, no longer orphans. We have been adopted, we now belong to a family, a kingdom. You are a child of God.
Naturally it is a bit crazy, a bit of a dysfunctional family with many divisions and conflicts. However, it’s also a huge family. So if your aunts and uncles are making you crazy, go hang out with your third cousins across town. They love you too.
I’ve probably just annoyed a half dozen pastors who hate the concept of “church shopping,” but I’m telling you, you must put your own relationship with the Lord first, and seek out fellowship with other healthy believers, some of who will give you what you need.
I want to reinforce that truth because all this covid19 stuff has just taken a huge toll on individuals and families, and the devastation is absolutely heart breaking to me, on a community wide level and a personal one. The elderly are isolated, people with mental health problems are isolated, developing and growing children are isolated, people wrestling with addiction are isolated. Add in some “cancel culture” where we try to build bonds not over blood, roles, or family ties, but rather ideology and politics, and we just have a recipe for complete disaster.
It’s one thing to want some intermittent distance from your family of origin because they are really toxic. It’s another thing entirely to “cancel culture” your family over masking directives, politics, or something else as equally foolish. And that reality is going on all around me.
My state Health Dept keeps sending out these alerts about the 100 fold increase in domestic violence, child abuse, addiction, suicide, mental disorders, and it’s like, I know! I already know these truths really well. It is your policies causing the upsweep and there is darn near nothing we can do about any of it.
Do I believe the “cure” for covid 19 is going to turn out to have been way worse then the disease? Oh, you betcha! The social ills we have caused, the economic harm, and the delayed medical care for the ordinary things that will kill you on a normal day is going to be just phenomenal. When the dust clears, the carnage we have caused will be far greater than the damage caused by this virus.
Spiritually, emotionally, psychologically, and socially, what we are doing to people is about the worse possible thing we can do, isolating them from one another. This isn’t just happening in a literal physical context, but in an emotional and spiritual one too.
Isolation is actually a form of torture. How do you break people down? You isolate and separate them from their support systems, and therefore weaken them. Cut off their lines of communication so they can’t organize and encourage one another, and you’re now in control.
I’m actually a loner, an outlier, bit of an introvert, quite content to be alone and yet even I know I must drag myself out, fight for some connection with others, refuse to isolate, insist on some form of corporate worship, and hopefully some ensuing Christian familial relationships that help people to stay connected within their communities.
It is literally essential, a matter of life and death for many, and not something to be casually disregarded as much of our political leadership has done, and sadly much of our churchian leadership, too.
One of the best cures for isolation, rejection, depression, financial woes, and assorted family hurts, is to reach out to other people, to sacrificially love someone else who is hurting. Not only does it deflate the enemy, it breaks something free spiritually, it reconnects you to your purpose, and it takes your eyes off of your own troubles and places them back on Him.
Lisa V said:
“…seek out fellowship with other healthy believers, some of who will give you what you need.” So true. Our small group that meets once a week (but is on break for summer) changed when this all hit. When we started meeting via Zoom, we spent the first 90 minutes (at least) discussing COVID. My husband and my views were clearly different from the rest of the group, so we spent the whole meeting biting our tongues. We finally stopped going because it was so darn depressing. Now we have no community for the time being except watching church online. Such a tragedy all around.
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Guiltless Passion said:
Same with us. You are not alone! We had already been questioning the teachings of our church leaders when this shut down just blew the masks off all of their hypocrisy🙏🏼 a bittersweet blessing of sorts. God will lead you to your tribe in His perfect timing
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Lisa V said:
Thank you for your kind words. I know we can’t really do anything right now except stay in prayer and keep watching services online. Looking forward to when we can fellowship again.
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insanitybytes22 said:
I’m so sorry! There is just a whole lot of shaking going on right now, separating the wheat from the chaff and making people figure out what they are made of, what is truly important to them. That’s a good thing, but it sure doesn’t feel so good when it’s happening.
One thing I have learned, anybody who demands I go against matters of conscience or compromise my beliefs, or just be forced into silence so as to keep the peace, is not healthy for me. Those are not situations I should put myself in.
The only good thing about on line church is that I can visit other believers from all over the world, and that I’m totally without excuse. I mean, here you can wear your jammies and go to church, or lie on the sofa and do a Bible study! It is so not “church,” it is not ideal, but it is a good way to supplement your faith, to draw closer to the Lord, and to meet new people.. 🙂
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Lisa V said:
The only good thing about online service, besides the jammies and coffee, is how many people it’s reaching who may never have gone to church before. I read an article about Harvest Church in California (Harvest Crusades) where their online audience had 100,000+ new followers since this all started, including many being saved. So, there’s that. Stay faithful, my friend.
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Pastor Randy said:
So well said IB! The family analogy works for the Body of Christ–dysfunctional but those who are serious, we are working out our dysfunction.
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insanitybytes22 said:
Amen. Thanks, Randy. 🙂
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Julie (aka Cookie) said:
Please climb to the highest mountain, in your case, probably Rainer, and scream this to the masses!! Oh but wait— they either have their fingers in their ears or they are too busy smashing, burning, rioting and looting 😑
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insanitybytes22 said:
LOL! Thanks, Julie. I waved at Mt Rainier for you. 🙂
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Julie (aka Cookie) said:
Climb every mountain IB!
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Mel Wild said:
My son in Bellingham has probably climbed every mountain there except Rainier. He’s with his aussie sheepherder dog on one of them as I write this. Definitely therapeutic while being held hostage for months now in your crazy state. 😛
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insanitybytes22 said:
Awesome, Me! It really is incredibly beautiful here, no doubt about that. It’s also really diverse so you can go from the desert to the rain forest to the ocean.
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Mtclark2014 said:
Great post. This entire time of COVID has definitely made an impact on everyone involved. I’ve seen it in my church, my friend and the youth group I teach.
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Mel Wild said:
Good word, IB! We definitely need our church family; and we need to be able to meet face-to-face, even if it’s face-mask to face-mask. 🙂 It felt SO good being able to meet together again. Am praying you guys will be freed from your state-run prison soon!
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SLIMJIM said:
As a pastor I feel ya
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We Love The Oldest Parents (David Robert Quigley) said:
I agree with you, we are all one family. We will get through this covid stuff. Stay safe, but stay happy.
Signed
http://www.welovetheoldestparents.com
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