Flock Together

The whole of life seems to be obsessed with tribes and gangs. We find this concept in the Old Testament with the tribes of Israel, we find it in the history of popular music; mods vs. rockers, punks vs. teds, rave vs. rock, and we also find it in church life; baptist, pentecostal, methodist, emergent, charismatic, evangelical, messianic. Life then becomes a task of trying to fit in somewhere. I am part of the sports people or the boffins or the geeks. From a place of playing in the playground with any and everyone in our young child-hood we soon find our little gang, our niche, people who are maybe a bit like us. We find that it is true that birds of a feather flock together. To be a part of something seems to be an inbred need and desire in mankind, but the problem here lies in the fact that once we find our tribe we can go through the whole of life very blinkered to life. We find ourselves being assimilated into a certain way of living, thinking, dressing and never get exposed to other lines of thought. We build a life with people just like us who themselves are surrounded by people just like us. When someone different then comes on the scene they are immediately labelled as outsiders and will find it very difficult to become part of the gang. That is unless they begin to show characteristics that we recognise or we see a willingness in them to change to become like us. I find this so sad.

Resistance is futile

From the moment I made a decision to follow Christ I have been assimilated by someone somewhere. This is how you need to think, this is what you have to believe. Nurture classes and discipleship classes where I was given teaching and notes on how to interpret the Bible. The fundamental beliefs, the important things. I later discovered that I wasn’t just being assimilated into being a Christian, I was being assimilated to being a certain type of Christian, a Pentecostal one. I was told that I needed to be part of the church and not mix with those that could lead me astray. I needed to fellowship with like-minded people to strengthen my faith and build me up. It was a big bad world out there and I needed to make sure I didn’t backslide or compromise. It wasn’t long before my relationships with people outside the church disappeared. They were not like me. I also found as the journey went on that it was not just difficult to have relationships with unbelievers but there were other churches that I needed to be careful about. They compromised the gospel. They didn’t believe in the baptism of the Holy Spirit or have lively Spirit led worship or freedom in their services. They don’t believe the same stuff. And as for catholics, avoid at all costs!!! All the time the circle of relationship and friendship gets smaller and more specialised. This is my tribe and I belong to them. My identity is found in my group. If I need a church I look for one where I fit in and believe what I believe. If that does not exist I will create one and draw together people that think like me. Birds of a feather flock together. Leadership teams are built with like minded people, people who are yes men to the vision and cause. Thinking differently is seen as rebellion and some leaders have asked folk to look elsewhere for a church more suitable to them. I know that because to my shame I have done a bit of that. How arrogant!!! But we were brought up to think about and live in tribes. Square pegs never fit in round holes.

Scattered and shuffled

I had this thought this week though, so simple and yet so true. Friendship and relationship should never be built on belief and opinion. We need to get back to the simplicity of the playground, become like little children and learn to play and learn with any and everyone. Tribes only create division and superiority. It is time for a scattering and shuffling to take place. We need to awaken to the fact that we don’t find our belonging in gangs and groups, our acceptance in a group of like-minded people, our niche in certain denominations. We already belong in Him. That is the only place we need to dwell, anything else becomes a place of distraction and narrowing down of relationship possibilities. Look at David and Jonathan, two very different men with different agendas and thought processors, yet they had an incredible covenant relationship. Not built on belief or opinion but on love. Our walks have revealed how shallow our relationships are so often because there is a trail of broken relationships scattered all over our past. People have cut off me when I walk a different path, but I have also cut off others. Shallow thinking. This is not relationship built in Him. This kind of relationship is based on something when love is unconditional. That is a different way of thinking. The Body of Christ needs different angles and different ways of thinking. It needs the prophet, the evangelist, the pastor, the apostle, the teacher. Sad thing is in my journey I have found prophetic birds seem to flock around me because I am prophetic. I find it hard to relate to more pastoral people because I find them too inward looking. But the Body needs us both. To be without a perspective creates an unhealthy disabled Body. I need pastoral people in my life.

New Day of Relationship

I long for a new day of relationship, not based on creed or belief or doctrine. Not based on how I translate the word or how I live it out. Not even based on whether I am in or out of faith with Christ. Relationship and friendship based on nothing more than love. I think you can tell the shallowness of a relationship because it will always only talk about what we believe together. Real relationship can be fun, challenging, disagreeable, stretching, out of comfort zone type stuff. Conversation is about any and everything. And the reality of that relationship is built on something more than agreement. Being together, sharing together, having space to be different and yet together. Already belonging but now believing for others to find more in Christ. Not to assimilate them to my creed and set of beliefs, but see them fulfilled in their life and call, however different to my life that may be. Living together in our uniqueness.