…and the Knee Bone connected to the Leg Bone…
My good friend and colleague has walked with a limp ever since I’ve known him. Over the last six months it was getting noticeably worse. On December 4, my friend had a knee replacement. I left a message for him on his voicemail that day, letting him know that I was praying for him.
A few weeks later I gave him a call to see how he was doing.
“How’s the knee?” I asked.
“Oh…it’s not the knee,” he replied. “It’s the rest of my body.”
“What do you mean?”
“The knee is doing fine,” he said. “It’s the rest of my body that is learning how to adjust. For so long my whole body was out of whack. Now everything has to adjust to this new knee. But it’s been wrong for so long, when it begins to get right, it still seems wrong. Hey, John, thanks for the call. I’m off to physical therapy. Talk to you soon.”
His answer surprised me, but it made perfect sense.
And it makes perfect sense for revitalization. As Paul wrote to the Corinthians, the body is a system and everything is interconnected. As the body ages, it begins to compensate for weaker joints. Over time, the whole body is out of whack. The limp is experienced as normal.
…
Through the work of the Spirit, a small portion of that church starts to become healthy and missional. They start going deeper in Christ and further in mission. It feels odd to the rest of the church because it does not fit their definition of “normal.” Their definition of normal is greatly skewed though years of decline and institutionalism. Now the status quo is being challenged by the vim and vigor of this particular ministry that is experiencing new life.
…
Hear me: I am not referring to a rebellious contingent or a church split. God forbid. I am merely identifying a pocket of ministry that begins to take on a healthy and missional flavor.
At this point the body (church) has a choice: Do we reject this new knee or do we learn to readjust to the new things that God is doing? That is going to take some physical therapy… learning how to walk again and aligning the whole body to the part that is healthy.
Physical therapy for the church. Now there’s an idea.
February 8th, 2009 at 6:05 pm
Thanks for spending time with us last week at Midwinter.
Relating to your entry here, I started a new workout routine that’s way more than just running, which I had been doing. This one focuses me on strengthening the core muscles (in biblical greek, the SPLANKNA - one of my favorite words in the NT). It’s amazing how working on the innermost muscles really affects how I feel overall.
I walk taller and have more energy than just doing basic running.
Maybe it could be said that vitality begins by working on the CORE muscles, that inner strength that inspires the rest of the body to get to work. With that, I’d say the inner core of the ECC is really gaining strength - I saw that at midwinter with the many new Covenanters who are excited about the future and the new president, who’s wisdom and compassion were very evident.
February 15th, 2009 at 8:48 pm
John, I belong to the Greenfield Congregational Covenant church here in NH. How do we get information on the EPIC seminar?
Thanks, Warren Aldrich 603-562-7731