You Are Not Alone

For a while now, I've harbored a longing to help people know they are not alone at church. (I touched on how this can be a problem here and here.) I probably ought to confess that this desire has all too often included a hunger for self-vindication. Here, let me tell these people how to do it right! Let me show them what I wish they'd done for me. But God has been turning my heart toward reconciliation. I want us to embrace each other, warts and all; we are family together. (My wart might be self-pity and morbid introspection. Yours might be too much of an emphasis on pulling oneself up by one's bootstraps--or some faith-based equivalent.) Each of us pursues a journey with God; each one has areas of maturity and experience as well as areas that need more growth. We should help each other, not dismiss or condemn.

But all that is not what I meant to write about just now. I have an idea! It began when I saw a comment online by a woman whose church provides an art room so that congregants can respond to sermons visually.  Then I heard a radio program that mentioned learning of and worshiping God with all our senses. The guest said evangelicalism sometimes includes something like a form of modern day gnosticism--an attitude that devalues the physical components of life. If you think about it, God has commanded forms of devotion and worship that include multiple senses: communion--taste, smell, touch, sight; baptism--touch, sound, sight, smell, probably taste; singing of songs and music in our hearts; and the many feasts in the Old Testament. A kind of wonder comes as we see our humanity acknowledged and ministered to through God's teaching. We don't find just one plain of existence or one set of emotions voiced in scripture. Parts of Job and Proverbs express joy and wonder over God's creation. Certain Psalms and various laments found throughout scripture voice deep sadness, anger, even sometimes a sense of abandonment and despair. Explore scripture as if it is not a text book, and you may be surprised to find a kindred emotion meeting you from its pages. I've been surprised to find a nurturing place in God's sacred word for my humanity. I guess I shouldn't have been. After all, God designed humans. While our sin is our fault and antithetical to God, humanity (meaning human-ness, not sinfulness) was God's idea. He loves people and made us creatures with emotional and physical needs and experiences.

In light of this, here's an idea for a way for Christians to participate in expressions of the human experience: a way for them to see they are not alone--that God knows and that others share the same experience.

Create a series of three-sided cubicles. Each cubicle will represent an experience or emotion (i.e. theme): fear, joy, abandonment, ect. Furnish the cubicles with visual and written expressions of the theme (if you include other senses, great!). These expressions should be provided by congregation members as they share their particular gifts and life-experiences. Allow room and provide supplies so that viewers can add their own contributions to the cubicles (prayers, notes, pictures, ect).

Finding my own struggles expressed with understanding by someone else has been such a gift to me.  What a relief to see a nebulous trouble captured and given form by someone who has been there before me. The hope offered by another's understanding, especially when it reassures me of God's presence, is a great treasure. Maybe an idea like this one could bring comfort to church members and encourage them to share their burdens with each other. In hope of facilitating this, I think a display like the one suggested above should also provide opportunity for viewers to visit with each other in a comfortable setting and to find prayer support.

Anyway, that's my idea. I'm eager for more ideas of how church can become a refuge (rather than a difficulty) for people in trouble, so if you've got some--please share!

The following rough diagrams are hard to read (sorry!). If you click on the picture you'll see a larger, readable, version.

close up

overall view