the same team

By now, most of you have probably seen this video. I love this video. I hope you have enjoyed it as well. But there is a specific reason I love it.

What do I love about this besides a) She's a GYMNAST, or b) She's freaking awesome, or c) She's an inspiration to short women everywhere?

I love the crowd. They may be the best part of this video. At every moment, you can hear them. Cheering her on. Holding their collective breath when she falters. Screaming at her that she can do it and she's amazing. And she was. And so were they.

No one put her down for being a woman in a (previously) man's sport. No one yelled that they could do it better. No one called her out on her form or finesse. They crazily, noisily, exuberantly cheered her every effort. They held her up when she struggled. They were a community. They were one.

I've seen this before. When my daughter and I ran (ran as in, walked, but let's not quibble) a Mud Run, I watched a crowd of women cheer another woman, overweight and on my side of older, as she attempted to run up a muddy hill and pull herself up with a rope. She did it, too. Probably because a noisy group of complete strangers stood there cheering her from the bottom.

We'e all seen the runner who stops, potentially losing a chance at today's glory, to help another runner in need.

The amateur athletic community knows something the church needs to know. They know they won't run any faster or compete any stronger by criticizing someone else's form. They know they won't improve a personal best by wishing for someone else's fall. They know cheering helps us all to do better.

They know they need one another to push everyone toward being their best.

They know what community really means.

Church people—we don't.

The New Testament uses a couple words when it talks about church and believers together. One is koinonia—a term that means to be in fellowship, sharing, united, in community. Another is oikos—which basically calls the church to be an extended family. People who are there for one another through everything, even weird uncles and difficult cousins. 

The Bible also uses the phrase “one another” often when referring to how believers are supposed to do life together. Be devoted to and honor one another (Romans 12.10), serve one another, (Galatians 5.13), accept one another (Romans 15.7), encourage one another (Hebrews 3.13), be kind to one another (Ephesians 4.32).

How are believers supposed to act toward one another? Like that. Like a team. Like a community. Like runners who look at one another as people on the same track with the same goal who help each other to do their best.

How do we act all too often? Um, not so much.

*If a church member offends us, we're more likely to walk away and find someone else than to say, “Hey, you're family. Letter's work this out. I love you.”

*If we disagree with someone's point of view, we seem all too happy to use personal insult to “prove” we know better than to listen and learn.

One of the largest reasons given among Millennials for why they are leaving the church is this one—too many Christians would rather infight than love their world together. Too many are so focused on being right that they have forgotten how to be Christlike.

Completely lost in the ensuing madness are Jesus' words: “Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples.” Perhaps, Jesus himself is completely, or at least largely, lost in the madness as well. That is an indictment we should not be able to live with.

I'm picturing the revolution that might happen if, instead of calling someone out when we are unhappy, we racked our brains for ways to serve and honor that person.

This is not easy. It's certainly a personal challenge for me. It feels a little like when I was a young adult trying to honor a father whom I loved but whose alcoholic behavior created issues I couldn't live with. I can think of a number of people I strongly disagree with that I really do not want to honor. I have serious concerns about their teaching and its ramifications. I strongly disagree. 

But what if I tried to honor them? What would it look like? 

What might happen?

What if you tried, today?

This post is a lead in to something I've wanted to for for a while. Over the next few weeks, I am planning to do a series of posts about the church—what it is, what it's supposed to be, and where it's going. Please join me. Please tell me what you think about those questions. I'd love your ideas.