Move Us

A sculptor was looking up at the beautiful Venus statue in the Louvre museum, with tears running down his face. Someone walked by and said, "Don't you like this statue?" and the man said, "Yes I do, but what is the point of all that beauty when it is marred by such impotence? She has no hands."

Sadly the church en masse today can identify. The church is beautiful: a rag-tag motley bunch of fools and beggars that have been summoned and pardoned by the King, given new life, hope, an inheritance, and a future marked with rich rewards and boundless promises. What once was wretched is now glorious and attractive. But what is the point of all that beauty when we are marred by impotence, with no hands to reach out to a dying world?

Casting Crowns became a Christian household name after writing their controversial and convicting song, "If We are the Body", challenging Christ-followers to use our hands and feet to reach out and affect change in this broken and fallen world. Most of us liked the beat to that song but ignored the message intended in it. It's hard enough reaching across the aisle to offer an obligatory handshake and half-smile, let alone across a generational, socio-economic, or racial divide in our city!

Art enthusiasts who frequent the Louvre all come across the statue of Venus, and a nagging question attacks the forefront of their mind: what happened to her hands? If the church will not be on mission the way Jesus was, the same thing will be asked about us. Israel was disqualified because they grew damningly comfortable in their salvation, no longer being heralds with good news to those around them. Is it any different with us? If God did not spare the natural branches, he will not spare you either.

Move us across the aisle, across the street, across the county, across the world, across the fear and discrimination and poverty and injustice and suffering and emptiness and sorrow. God, move Your people, please.
-Pilgrim