Foolishness of the Gospel

Lord, thank you for presbytery yesterday... really appreciate TM, the Cubans, and most of the folks in the presbytery. If I'm being honest, though, I was struck by the absurdity of it all (which is actually what A preached on – the foolishness of the gospel)...

• on the one hand, our presbytery consists of 50 churches (sounds good!)...
• but 12 are without a pastor (25%), and 35% have less than 35 people (which means that All Souls in Austin is larger than 40% of our presbytery... and we're just a tiny house church / plant)
• most of the folks in the room at presbytery are in their 60s and 70s (which means that in the next 20 years, there's going to be a crisis of critical mass)
• so on the one hand, all this feels silly and futile [to talk about all these hopes and dreams and plans]... (can't we see the writing on the wall?)
• but on the other hand, look at TM's church (still plugging along, not much different than we are size wise, but lots of new faces and energy – if there's ever a church of misfits, their might be even more so than ours!)
• yet look at what you are doing with the Cubans (bring people in)...
• Lord, all this feels very much like what you were doing with Manny at Spirit & Truth in Philly...
• And why would I want to be anywhere else?

This is what the foolishness of the gospel looks like, played out in real time. Everything we are, everything we are trying to accomplish... foolish! crazy! And yet you are doing something. (Maybe? Perhaps?) None of it looks big or impressive. And maybe it never will be. But it feels real and genuine (and a little bit humorous). I am glad we are here...