One of my favorite “Hyblisms” (Bill Hybles axioms) is “This is Church!” It’s for moments of transcendent victory where you can almost see the invisible Kingdom of God expanding & growing in hearts, taking more people in. I always say it after Christmas Eve for example walking back to my car. Then there are the other “This is Church!” moments. In some way they are more beautiful. They are the moments when people get down into the depths with each other. It’s when people reach out & reach beyond themselves. When they “weep with those who weep” and choose to be present in despair, grief, sickness.
I have experienced a lot of “This is Church” lately. Today, I did a memorial service for Carl Burger. He was a wonderfully successful car dealer who was kind of a larger than life personality. The really cool part is how Carl began to really come hard after God in the last few years of his life. The really really cool part for me was that I was able to see it. We had lots of chats & I loved hearing the fascinating story of his life. Pam, his wife, has been so full of faith & hope in the midst of all of this. I was able to visit Carl the day before he died and his spiritual progress was plain to see.
Then there is Claire & her friend Megan that she has brought to church. Claire is relatively new to Journey & it is very obvious that God & her are dialed in. She is walking with her friend through a hellacious battle with cancer. On Sunday night some people from our prayer team went to Megan’s home & worshiped & prayed with her. Very cool! I asked her if I could share some excerpts from some emails she sent me today. Here they are:
She had her spinal today and I’m told it went well. Her husband Cris called me and asked if I would come and sit with she and her boys this afternoon until he could get home from work. They have both had a huge breakthrough this week with eachother and it is the first time he has called me to help him out. Oh, the power of prayers! (*Ed, Megan prayed most for she and Cris on Sunday and lookey here! Beating her cancer seemed secondary to her relationship with her husband and their lack of communication) God truly heard those prayers coming from all of us.
Have a great rest of the week!
Claire
This is so cool.
Would you mind if I posted it on my blog?
Would Megan?
Ed
Please do. And when I was there today and Megan was napping Cris and I talked. He said that he had taken some time off this week and was feeling better. He even spent some time talking to his wife and that it was great to reconnect. I told him that Megan’s main prayer on Sunday was not her cancer but was for she and Cris spending time communicating again. Amazing. He was speechless. We talked about how amazing she is in fighting this with such grace. I let him know again that her friends are there for Megan and her family, not only now, but in the future and always. My last words with Cris were that he had to have faith, hope and love.
After Cris left I watched me dear friend sleep so peacefully, rubbed her cold feet, prayed and read the Bible.
It was truly one of the most memorable afternoons in my life.
They get the results on Friday.
More prayers, please!
Thanks,
Claire
THIS IS CHURCH!
