Family Feud

This is such a great album! If you don't have it, I highly recommend getting it. A digital copy or one that you hold in your hand. I had it on cassette; need to find it on CD for my collection. That said, this kept playing through my mind yesterday; particularly as I kept thinking about how well my daughters get along (except when they don't).

I don't remember my brother and I getting into it, as much as these two girls do; perhaps it's because there's a few more years of separation between us and so we weren't in competition with each other, as much as I was emulation-mode of whatever he was doing. Be that as it may, I couldn't help but think about the relationship my daughters share and compare it to how well (or not) the body of Christ gets along with each other.

This one line, in the song, says it all, about church strife;

"There's a world that's losing hope, while we fight among ourselves."

This is becoming more and more apparent, with every passing human tragedy and political uproar.

The world needs to hear what the church has to say and more importantly, what God has to say, through His Word and yet they they are unable to do so, because of the contempt they show for they show the body of Christ and the people of God. More often than not, the church has hindered it's own witness than we've helped to confound expectations, as we portray Christ to a world that is losing hope in increasing fashion.  (increasing, being an understatement, as the song posted here, is almost 20 yrs old!)

I'm not saying the church hasn't accomplished a great deal in 20 years; that ministry hasn't been powerful and effective, resulting in lives changed for eternity and incredible testimonies of God's power and grace at work among us. Yet, as the lyrics acknowledge, "we've got a long way yet to go."

Pray with me, this #youthPastorWednesday, for the struggle and the strife that is occurring across our churches. May the fighting cease. Pray the spirit of peace we wish to see in the world, transpire in the church first. May their be an extension of grace within the body of Christ; that would exemplify God's ability to offer the same to the world through the person of Jesus Christ. Pray the children in our churches; may the witness the love, grace and forgiveness of Christ in our homes, marriages and workplaces, as well as when we congregate. May their not be a double-standard of living, in our coming and our going, but a consistent faith and a constant perspective of who we are in Christ; what He has accomplished in our lives and what He desires to work in and through us for those we interact with in this world.

May they find the hope they seek.
In the person of Jesus Christ.
For the glory of God.

- PNC