RETURN TO THE SOURCE V

PRESENCE NOT PROGRAMS

I have come to realize and accept that I am an “outside of the camp” Christian.  I worked in various churches in my life and enjoyed what I was doing with the people, especially the young people.  But even then I busied myself more with the presence of the people than developing and working the programs.  I could spend hours talking with the kids about spiritual matters and about their lives as we meet together, either formally or informally.  There was an aliveness about those times, both in the church or at their ball games or other activities we share together.  Two one hour meetings sitting on the church Board, talking about the size of the offering envelopes did me in.  It was then that that I blurred the difference between the words Board and bored.  I honor and respect the people who work many hours to put together programs every week to present to the church on Sundays.  I just prefer working with individuals, being present with them, and hanging “outside the camp” with them, sharing in their lives.

It is also “outside the camp” that I find myself in God’s Presence in a precious and enriching way for me.  I find precedence for my preference in the lives of the people who followed God recorded in the Bible.  “Moses used to pitch a tent outside the camp and called it the tent of meeting…that is where the Lord would speak with Moses face to face, as with a friend.  Joshua used to follow Moses and remain at the tent even after Moses left.”

(Exodus 33:7-11). Elijah was alone, lodging in a cave when God came and spoke to him. (I Kings 19:9).  Jesus was always going off to a place far from the crowd to be alone.  Paul was alone, abandoned by others and in prison as he wrote his letters.  John was in exile on the island of Patmos when he received his great revelation of end times.

Presence with God and presence with one another seems to be a priority for God.  He took Presence to an extreme by becoming flesh and dwelling among us. (John 1:14).

I wonder what would happen if there were less programs and more Presence in the religious lives of people; if living out our programs we work so hard to plan and execute 24/7, not just for an hour a week.  Usually the purpose of developing good programs is to bring people into the church, entice them by entertaining them, and hoping they will stay and join in with us.  That is not a bad motive but is the best and most sustainable?  What if the time and energy developing programs was put into developing actual relationships, first with God and then with one another?  What if we would actually BE the program?  It would be the fruit of our Presence with God rather than the product of a lot of activity.  I have heard and experienced for myself the burnout that comes when folks get so busy working for God that their relationship with God suffers by being put on hold.

Jesus didn’t present programs to his disciples or to those who followed him. He came and simply dwelt among us.  There was something in him that made his disciples want to give up everything to follow him and be with him.  There was something in him that made people from all walks of life want to eat and drink with him and be with him.  His work was “outside of the camp”, outside of the Temple, where the lives of the people were being lived.  Is that true of those today who work so hard in religious and church life?

What if the Presence of God was so strong and so observable in those who love and follow God that people would come and see not a program but a person who loves God with all his or her heart, mind, and strength?  Then we could ask them “what are you seeking?” and simply invite them to come and walk with us.  Presence is inviting and it is contagious.  Time and energy spent on cultivating Presence with God and with one another will produce good and everlasting fruit.