Glorious Mess
Small groups this week have looked at the rag-tag bunch of people Jesus called to be his first disciples…
…the new family of people that God was at work creating through Jesus.
And what a family it was!
There were Simon Peter and Andrew, James and John – tough, brawny salt-of-the-earth Galilean fishermen.
And Matthew…a tax collector and collaborator with the Roman enemy.
Another Simon…a Jewish insurrectionist who’d almost certainly been committed to the violent overthrow of the Romans.
The gospels give us other details too…
James & John, nicknamed Sons of Thunder by Jesus himself – I’m guessing because he’d witnessed their hot-headed, fiery tempers.
And Peter…brash and self-assured – I can imagine him winding the others up pretty easily…always being in charge.
There were the squabbles about who was the greatest or who would get to sit at Jesus’ right and left-hand - James and John…did you really get your mum to ask Jesus that question?
Maybe suspicions over Judas?
Frustrations with Thomas?
Peter, James & John….why did they always get chosen?
You get the idea - imagine the dynamics of this group of men!
So not that much different from us really?!
Church…the Body of Christ…the family of people God is at work forming…is a glorious mess.
A mess of personalities, characters, cultures, quirks, idiosyncrasies, annoying habits…and so much more.
A mess of sinners and brokenness.
But glorious…because, purchased by the precious blood of Jesus, adopted into His family, we are being formed by very Breath of His Spirit.
Glorious because the new creation life of Jesus is at work in us – individually and collectively.
Church…the glorious messy family of God, called together to display something of God’s reconciling and restorative love and grace to the world around us.
Why don’t you take a moment to thank God for the brothers and sisters that are part of the your family that is Neighbourhood…marvelling how God is at work in and amongst and through the rag-tag bunch of ordinary people that we are.