The Family of Faith
Work seems all consuming
When I get a day off I just crash
Then it’s back to work again
Just try living without cash
The morning is consumed with children
Getting them ready and off to school
Then worrying that the phone doesn’t ring
About a bloody nose or broken rule
Of course we go to the games
We have to pull for our team
High school sports are life
In our small community
It’s overtime and report cards
More meetings and more work
And it seems my life is empty
I am about to go berserk
I said the words about Jesus
So I could have eternal life
But it seems that things remain unchanged
Days full of struggles and of strife
And then someone invites me
To come with them to church
I say that I’m too busy
To just leave my life in the lurch
I don’t expect tomorrow
To be any better than today
To give up something else for church
Is surely not my way
But to continue as I have been
Is to live as if I’m blind
For I know there is something better
If I will seek, perhaps I’ll find
There is a truth I must admit to
If I am to end this time of strife
This precious jewel of wisdom is
I can’t squeeze God into my life
Don’t judge or condemn me
For this simple fact is true
No matter what you say to others
The same is true for you
God will not be a second
Or third or fourth or fifth
God’s place is always first
All other thoughts are myth
No other gods before Me
We make none of wood and stone
But we carve them of idleness and busyness alike
And find ourselves alone
So far from our Redeemer
So close to life’s contempt
Living in separation
So much life already spent
But God has given us a family
It is one of those called out
So that we never face the world alone
It is an ear to hear whenever we may doubt
The church is that special body
Where nothing goes to waste
A Covenant Community
A family of faith
Where many gifts and talents
Are shared to produce good fruit
The Body of Christ lives fully
When the vine is our true root
The church is more than a place to gather
More than a place to sing and to repent
Those called out of this world are set apart
To be sanctified and resent
Into a world that dies of busyness
Of worry and no hope
That seeks so many other gods
Money, stuff, and dope
God must be at the center
Surrounded closely by the Body of Christ
And those called out call others in
For inclusion in real life
For the church is the true center
Of the community’s very life
When people have no time for it
They reenter one of strife
And wonder how they got there
From a place where things were good
Blind to their own departure
Feeling always misunderstood
The early church had no need
People gave of what they had
This body of believers stuck together
Not quitting when someone got mad
And there were no hungry among them
No one left to sleep upon the street
And no worry about tomorrow
For Christ did death defeat
And before there was a work day
And after the day was done
The family of faith did gather
For prayer and food as one
We cannot squeeze God into our day
Living as the church is no after thought
Following Christ is all in or all out
And we know what all out has wrought
The Ecclesia is called out of the world
To be holy and set apart
Yet so many cling to the things of this age
Instead of singing How Great Thou Art
Until God is set above all things
And the church is central to our life
God’s blessings will be elusive
We shack up with our sorrow and our strife
Change is often difficult
Human nature is to remain
With that which we know so well
Even amidst the hurt and pain
And I have tried time and time again
To make those bold first steps
Only to fall and hurt myself
And return to what I know best
And finally admit
That I cannot really change
Without the helping hand of God
While serving in his reign
It’s hard to accept a victory
That first began with surrender
But a life among God’s chosen
Is one with fear replaced by splendor
And one living among friends
Who truly love one another
Makes the church so central to our lives
A community like no other
The church building is a crossroads
Where the church itself does gather
In two’s and three’s at times
By the multitude is our rather
And a place where some just stop in
Or come to pray or talk
Knowing that belonging to each other
Is essential to our walk
With Jesus Christ and God’s own Spirit
Who lives in our heart and walks by our side
As the Father intended when He gave us his Son
That one day we would rejoice as his bride.
Many words have brought us to this final point
Take a Sabbath from this world of haste
And find a way each and every day
To gather as the Family of Faith.