Hurrying off to church

The day before leaving SC to come to Panama, we were asked a poignant question in Sunday school, “How can a person run to church and at the same time away from God?” Jesus’ story of the Good Samaritan immediately came to mind. Although the text doesn’t explicitly state it, chances are that either the priest or the Levite that passed the beaten fellow that day were literally going to “church”, that is, their temple, while leaving another human being to die. The ensuing discussion which followed that question produced a statistic: only 20 % of churchgoers are Christians. Myself being rather fond of numbers, and having personally given up on quantifying salvation, I listened curiously for what would qualify the 20%, hoping to be in that number. Faithful church attendance, regular Bible reading, and tithing were mentioned, and I couldn’t decipher if there was more. Trying to aggregate this new information with the story of the Good Samaritan was giving me a mental cramp. Jesus speaks often of the religious people of his day, saying things such as “they like the chief seats in the synagogue” (Matt. 23:6; Mark 12:39; Luke 20:46), “they study the scriptures diligently” (John 5:39) and fruitlessly, and when Jesus mentions tithing, it is always to rebuke the religious leaders of his day. It would seem that we get little or no celestial treasure for church attendance, Bible reading, and perhaps even tithing. Of course, I don´t intend to discourage these practices in the least, which have been handed down to us to help us draw nearer to God and each other. I only intend to remind myself that my measuring stick is inadequate and that every person has been created in God´s image and has the potential to carry His Spirit. God works through people that are not even in the church, and I may only be able to take part in what He is doing to the extent that I can recognize His hand.

We´re off to a whirlwind of a start here, accompanying the team from Forest Grove Community Church. Their actions and attitudes thus far have been an inspiration to us and to the people we´ve visited. Thank you for praying for us and for this team. We´ve had a little setback in the bowels department, so the team has continued upriver to Vista Alegre while we wait in Yaviza for our guts to work properly again. Thanks again for your prayers.

Amor de Cristo,

Los Fosters

[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lhhx0Wqbhwo&rel=0]