Carry Out

My son, J, has developed a bad habit. When he participates in communion, instead of eating the bread and wine at the altar, he brings it back to the pew with him – or at least part of it.

Do we do that? Are we given the privilege of communing with God, just to hold it in our hand instead of accepting it?

The devotion I read this morning was based on Mark 10:26-27:

The disciples were even more amazed, and said to each other, “Who then can be saved?” Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but not with God; all things are possible with God.

The Disciplines author for the week, Jerry Lowry, says that he has heard that “ninety-five percent of what the church does could be done without the presence and power of the Holy Spirit.” That really struck me. To me it explains how our churches could continue to stagger along, acting as if they are trying to be a church, and yet nothing happens. Ninety-five percent of what we do can be done without God.

But what about the other 5%?

The other 5% -- the part that we can’t do without God – is the impossible. With God we are able to do what for us would not be possible. Look at that verse again. Lowry paraphrases the scripture to say, “Who can be saved? Jesus says, God can save anyone. Nothing is impossible for God.” Pass a camel through the eye of a needle? No problem.

What are we doing? Why are we part of a church? What is our mission? To go and make disciples. Everything that we do on our own – none of it is enough to do what we are really supposed to be doing. God must be involved. It’s the other 5% that is the point!

God will equip us, walk with us, nurture us, and guide us in our walk to be and to make disciples. The impossible becomes possible. The club becomes a church. We are recreated, transformed, and put to work. When we involve God in all that we do – the whole 100% -- we can stand as the disciples did, and be amazed. And there is joy.

J doesn’t actually keep the bread. He eats it in the pew. He acts like it is “carry out,” instead of a dine-in meal. It’s “carry out.” Isn’t it supposed to BE “carry out?” Meet God, be changed, and then go out.

It is carry-out.

Images: Sky on the way to work yesterday -- it was gorgeous. Maple leaves.