Church on a Hill

Every day on my way to work I pass an intriguing little church with a name I can never get straight, but it has to do with cities and hills. Last night I checked out their web site. Near as I can tell, the pastor went on a 40 day fast, after which he determined that while there are churches on every block in our county, there are none on a hill. Blocks=bad; hills=good. I realize that this is metaphorical. At least I think so. Where I live a church on every hill is a challenge. Anyway, there was no doctrinal statement, but some rather good stuff about the state of our nation and the failure of the church to accomplish something, the something which this little church is apparently going to pull off.

I have no doubt that the church in America is facing crisis. Call me paranoid, but here at home we are moving from legal discipline for hateful acts to prosecution for hateful speech, to prosecution for hateful thoughts. "If you don't repent and believe the gospel, you're going to spend eternity in hell" is pretty dang hateful in a humanist culture. Not to mention that radical Islam is on jihad and with modern communications and weaponry our oceans are no longer a protective barrier.

But enough paranoia. Back to the church on a hill. Granted that the church is divided and weak, is this constant urge of Christian leaders to be Nehemiah rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem really the answer? Please understand that I'm not standing outside to criticize. I was once set in as pastor over the “church in the city,” a roll that was absolute hubris, especially considering my youth. That phase came and went, and was replaced, I hope, by some degree of not just humility, but reality. I react to the little church down the road because I’ve been there.

There seems to be what can only be called an insane desperation among those who contemplate the “state of the church” to repeat the same method that we’ve been trying for years: reject the blocks and head for the hill. Do it one better. Does anyone notice, by the way, that all the hill churches are now on blocks?

So I lay in bed last night contemplating the state of the church, and finally turned to prayer. I think I was hoping that the Lord would say something like, “Start a Bible study in your home. I will give the Word through you such power that within six months all the block Christians in the county will be sitting enthralled in your living room.” No way. All I heard was, “Get low.” How low? How ‘bout this? “No, lower.” Check this out, Father! “No, lower.”

There was only one unbearable conclusion to this: the block Christians are better than me. Pride gives me multiple reasons why I am more special to God, more enlightened. The very thought makes me less. They don’t need to be replaced; they need to be served. From below. Maybe that’s the way up the hill.