Scattering and Gathering
Scattering and Gathering
by Stephen Schuette

In the texts this week there are tensions of scattering and reconciling as well as Jesus’ own boundary crossing which simply draws out more of the same – people, all kinds of people from everywhere who find in him something that draws them.

What is it that divides us and what is it that unites us in the church? Certainly things change and attitudes shift. A segregated military that was once a norm is now abhorrent. Will that be the case one day with openly gay people? I’ve always known a vegetarian or two but recently I’ve come to know vegans. I ride my bike, winter and summer, while the SUV’s abound in the church parking lot. A pastor emeritus I knew, an Iowa farm-boy, would sit on his back porch in town and pick off the squirrels for population control.

Although our churches tend to be culturally cohesive to a degree (as the old saying truthfully goes, Sunday morning is the most segregated time of the week), even within our homogeneity there is still a good deal of diversity. Could there be any clearer line than Jew and Gentile, with its accompanying mark? Yet Ephesians affirms with the strongest language possible that there is no dividing wall or distance but one new humanity, hostility itself put to death, all of it leading to a new coherence in Christ.

Community is the call and the challenge. Perhaps speaking truth in love is a phrase that captures that challenge. To speak our truth, hold our conviction, witness to what we know, and yet do that with openness and even a willingness to be corrected in an attitude devoid of defensiveness is not easy. And I’ve fallen off both ends, losing my voice and conviction in a passive fear that fails to respond to the call of God for me while at other times aggressively shouting for folk to listen to me in ways that run roughshod over the genuineness of their calling, their voice. And both can cause the sheep to scatter.

Maybe what people came to know in the Shepherd Jesus was both truth and love, a rare combination of qualities that in its wholeness was healing for them. Whether from “cities or farms” (vs. 56) they are drawn from near and far. Genuine community is always a miracle. Do you believe in miracles?

(from www.goodpreacher.com/blog/)