Most of our connections are often superficial and our motives to maintain them vary. However, the utmost motives we are called to reflect are out of love; the one-way, outward kind that gives without concern for self. In their pure forms, authentic and vital connections are initiated and maintained out of love for the Lord and towards one another.
I am learning that we are here to experience consistent connections between God and each other in the Body. The strength of those connections witness to others in the world and act as signposts pointing them towards the Father. The Lord gave me a dream recently that is drawing me into better understanding of what connections are in the Body and what it means to connect. I would like to take the risk and share what i have been learning, starting with the dream.
This post has to do with something shown to me during time in the Furnace. For me, the most valuable time spent their, whether share or alone, is in the night watches. It is clear of most distractions that inhibits connecting to the Father's heart if we are inclined and dare to do so. Sometimes dreams come about after an intense nightwatch. This is an account of one that remains clear to me.
Why are you here? ... You are here to Connect!
Night watches in the Furnace for me are a paradox; energizing and tiring, more so when things get intense. I came home after a rather intense night watch and seemed to immediately fall into a dream as soon as i hit the pillow.
A short clip began to play in my mind as i drifted off. I was still alert but it was clear i was somewhere else. I was standing amidst a full gathering of our community in the gymnasium where we do the event part of church.
There was the normal buzz of voices talking amongst themselves as we prepared to worship. We stood in a full grid of neat rows and columns. No one seemed to be coming forward to speak or to lead worship and the buzz became louder as the absence of leadership persisted.
Suddenly, the whole stage area and the back wall became like a huge website that quickly re-directed our attention to the blank, clear screen. The buzz suddenly ceased and everyone fixed their gaze on the display. There was no way to avoid looking at it.
A bold text banner floated to the top-centre of the screen, captioning ...
Why are You Here?
The screen broke out into columns of many lists of plausible reasons, each with a check box adjoining it; as it were a survey. It seemed apparent to all that it was the Lord working an interactive presentation with us. I had the sense that He was concerned with why we were gathered here.
We began pointing at the screen as if our fingers were co-joind to a mouse. The lists flew up on the screen rapidly and we began to anxiously click at each line as they appeared. They all seemed like reasonable answers...
To sing praises...
...for the teaching
To pray for others ...
...for healing and deliverance
To serve in sunday school ...
... for friendship
The list grew to be quite huge! Then suddenly, before we got a chance to finish our hurried responses, the whole wall blanked out, like a page reload. Another wave of silence washed over everyone until a new banner appear as if to exhort us, in likeness to the correct answers being revealed after a multiple choice quiz ...
You are Here to CONNECT!
You are Here to Connect with Me and I to you.
You are Here to Connect to One Another as I am with you.
Everyone began to look at each other. Some appeared offended, bewildered, bothered but all very surprised. I seemed that no matter how many good answers we came up with to the question, there were only three that mattered. None of us seemed to have gotten them either.
Then i woke up. I didn't have much choice in the matter and it was only a short time after i went to bed. The whole thing gripped me to the point that it re-engaged my thinking to the point that i was distracted from a much needed sleep. I journalled the account and fell fast asleep.
Now What Was That All About?
The whole dream seized my thoughts and got me thinking again about why we are really here in the context of what we are calling church. What we do seems to be right but there seems to be something missing. We have good teaching, programs and excellent times of worship in song and adoration. However apart from all that there seems to be something missing.
Our experiences of church in the programmatic context can be quite empty. Church can and often is a lonely place in spite of the attendance and activities.
Most have come to see it as a place where we are busy being busy for the sake of being busy. Paradoxically, it can be one of the most loneliest places on earth. I believe this is a prominent phenomenon out of discussions at large.
The intent of this post is to provoke thought into the nature and purpose of connecting to one another, in the Kingdom and in our communities. Hopefully, some dialog would come out of it, preferably outside of this blog with one another. Even better would be to see real vital connections flourish, but that can not be done by words alone; they have to be shared and experienced together.
Further posts will explore the nature of connections, their contexts, purposes and the barriers obstacles we face in connecting.
What do you think is missing? What has the Lord been impressing you with?
Share your thoughts!
Bless you all.
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