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Circling
the Airport by
Rick Presley
I
was flying home from a business trip, sharing the row
with a woman who appeared to be a seasoned business
traveler. The overcast sky created a good bit of bumpy
air the whole trip, yet she appeared nonplussed during
the flight. I had no idea that she had a hidden fear
buried deep beneath her calm exterior. When we hit the
runway she jumped so high in her seat that I wasn't sure
her lap belt was even fastened.
"You
don't like landings?" I asked.
She
glanced at me briefly out of the corner of her eye,
shaking her head almost imperceptibly. With a forced
serenity she slowly released her death grip on the arm
rests.
Some
time later I reflected that a lot of us in church are
like this woman. We thrill to the take-off of new ideas.
It may be the Emergent conversation. It may be the heady
lure of postmodernism. It may be a new way of
experiencing church. Many of us embrace new paradigms
with hardly a flicker of nervousness or hesitation.
In
a short while we have soared to the glorious heights of
lofty ideas. We embrace the brisk rarified air of
high-altitude concepts that transform our view of the
world. Aloft among the clouds we experience the
exhilaration of speed and power that we never had with
our pedestrian ideas down on the ground. On our airplane
of The Next Big Thing we find ourselves in the company
of like-minded travelers enjoying the luxury of flight
above the storms that trouble the folks on the ground.
We are untouched and unconcerned about the bad weather
and enjoy our enlightened conversation about high
ideals.
From
our privileged perspective we can view the world around
us with far-sighted vision that is denied us when we are
pinned to the ground by the gravity of real life. We can
take the long view into the future and look back into
the distant reaches of the past to see where we've come
from. We look to either side and see the breadth of
distant horizons stretching outward in every direction.
We are untroubled by the details of life on the ground
when we are in the air. Implementing ideas are concerns
for when we land. While we are on the plane, we simply
enjoy discussing The View From Here. From this height,
everything looks wonderful. What looks like a gray
forbidding cloud from the ground, is a bright cottony
puff shimmering in the brightness of the sun when viewed
from the heights of idealism.
But
like the woman in my row, many of us are uncomfortable
when it is time for us to leave our lofty heights and
come down to earth. Hitting the runway of real life is
nearly a panic-inducing event for some of us. We would
rather spend our time circling the airport than coming
in for a landing.
As
enjoyable as air travel may be for some of us, the only
people who really accomplish anything in the air work
for the airlines. The rest of us are called to take the
gospel into the world. An old phrase from my growing-up
days was, "Some people are so heavenly minded that
they're no earthly good." These concerns aren't new
and that is one of the reasons we need to take a look at
them. Some people today are so focused on the Emergent
conversation that they aren't out in the streets where
ministry really happens. Ministry takes place on the
ground among the grit and grime of daily life. The
ground is where we need to take the gospel.
People
who don't leave the airplane are interesting folks. They
only spend enough time on the ground to move from one
terminal to another so they can hop the next flight.
These are people who run from one Big Thing to another
in hopes of being busy about ministry without ever
actually doing ministry. They aren't so much concerned
with where they are headed as long as it is a high and
lofty goal with a far distant future objective. Their
concern isn't with the destination but with the
in-flight service and whether or not they have a window
seat or aisle seat. These are people who spend an
inordinate amount of time complaining that the snacks
and service on the plane are not up to par or at least
not as good as their last flight. They seem to be on an
eternal quest for the best airline and the best flight,
totally oblivious to the fact that our mission is not to
ride airplanes but to serve on the ground.
Even
more interesting is that these people are not
"they" but they are me. I enjoy riding the
lofty heights of new ideas and sometimes spurn the dirty
work of getting down to earth with the gospel. So this
little article isn't about them. It's about people who
read this, nod their heads in agreement and then go on
to the next article or next blog without a thought for
how to live ministry when we leave our computer screens.
I
am reminded of the story of the demon possessed man who
ran among the tombs of Gadara. When the townspeople
found him sitting with clothes on and in his right mind
they were amazed. The man who was now healed had only
one desire and that was to follow Jesus but the Lord
denied him this opportunity. Instead, Jesus told the man
to go back into the town and tell them what good works
God had done for him. He must have done a good job
because the next time Jesus passed that way the people
were glad to have him there and rushed out to greet him.
As
good as it may seem for us to spend time just sitting
around talking about Jesus and church and how the world
is headed to hell in a hand basket, our mission is to
take the gospel out to a sin-darkened world. Sure the
world is nowhere near as pretty from ground level as it
is from the an airplane, but that is where we are called
to go. Let us leave the pews, let us leave the
discussions, let us leave the lofty views behind for
just a bit and get out and minister to the people who
most need us.
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