Focusing?

For the past few months our church has been engaged in a "Refocusing" process; a time to take a hard look at ourselves and make sure that we're still headed in the direction in which God is leading. I think it's been a helpful excercise for everyone and has certainly generated some good discussion. And I'm hopeful that clear initiatives will emerge and be lived into by the church.

However, I feel I need to share something that I found highly ironic. The last of the three Refocusing Summits happened to be held on the same Saturday that Food Finders (a non-profit that finds extra food from restuarants, bakeries, markets, etc., and passes that food on to those that need it) was sorting, packing, and distributing the results of a huge food drive to agencies and individuals that needed it for Thanksgiving. They were doing this work in our church gym.

About 50 feet away a good chunk of our congregation (about 150?) were meeting to talk about what God was calling us to do as the church in the community.

Hmmm.

After our lunch break myself and some others from the Refocusing meeting walked into the gym to see how things were going. Well, they needed a lot of help. All the morning volunteers had left and there was still a lot of work to be done. So for the rest of the afternoon I (and a few others) played hooky from the Refocusing meeting and loaded up boxes and made deliveries of food and cleaned up.

Now, I know that the Refocusing Summit meeting that occurred in our fellowship hall that day was important and that God was there. But I couldn't help thinking to myself that at least one of the answers to where the church should focus was literally right around the corner.

God was there too, but the Church was largely absent.

Is it just bad scheduling or is it symtomatic of a larger problem?
Is it easier to talk about ministry than to actually do it?

I'm not sure.