Here is a quote from Alan Hirsch's book, Right Here, Right Now. "You are the church before you do the church. If we take Jesus at his word when he says, "As the Father has sent me, I am sending you" (John 20:21), the we realize that our being "sent" (Latin: missio) is the basis of our "doing" church and not the other way around. What is more, this applies to every disciple and not just to the so-called clergy (the called ones). We are all called into the kingdom and into living our life under orders. What we normally infer by the word church limits what the Bible means by it. Church is not simply a building or a formal community meeting, it is who we are - a people who have been formed out of a direct encounter with God in Jesus Christ."Each of us doing our part - being the being the church wherever we are! Taking the moment to give someone a listening ear, to speak a word of encouragement to them, having our hearts open to be lead by the Lord - so our encounters with people will count for this Kingdom.
My daughter picked up this flower and took a picture of it - to have a memory. A reminder of a moment in her life. May our lives be those "memory" spots in peoples' lives. May we leave an essence of Jesus behind us.
I love Alan Hirsch's words on what it means to be the church - "you are the church before you do the church. It is all about each of us - no one can sit on the sidelines and not realize that something would be missing, for someone, somewhere. Someone would have missed that opportunity to be touched by the love of Jesus! Be formed by a daily encounter with Jesus and go out and change your world!
