We should expect churches to limp along.
This limping—rather than being an excuse for moral failure—is the best protection against spiritual abuse and spiritual disfunction.
Denying our Limp Leads to Abuse
Abuse and disfunction come from hiding or denying our weaknesses.
Abuse and disfunction come from preying on the weakness of others.
Abuse and disfunction come from projecting strength, power, and certainty in all situations, at all costs.
Churches and leaders, organizations and cultures, that hide and deny how they limp are not as close to receiving or offering the blessing of God as they think.
Rather, they will inevitably participate in and spread the curse they seek to overcome.
The Limping Blessed One
Jacob wrestled with God.
But only after God touched Jacob’s hip, only after Jacob is permanently injured, and only after Jacob still clung to God, did Jacob receive the blessing he sought (Gen. 32:22-31).
And Jacob’s body always bore the marks of this blessing.
Jacob’s limp was a reminder to himself and a witness to others that
- losing was actually winning
- that weakness was actually strength
- that falling was actually rising
- and dying was actually living
A Limping Church
A limping church, rather than prey on weakness, protects and cherishes the weakness of others.
A limping church firmly steps forward with one foot, knowing it must drag the other foot along.
A limping church is committed to moving forward, knowing progress will be slower than desired.
A limping church keeps moving, knowing that each movement will not go as planned.
A limping church will have answers, but it will always hold close the questions and honer the doubts.
A limping church, and especially its leaders, will cling to hope and forgiveness, while always confessing its sins and failures.
Don’t trust a church that isn’t honest about how it limps.
But trust a church that says with Paul,
I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me…For when I am weak, then I am strong. (2 Cor. 12 9-10)
One reply on “Don’t Trust a Church that Doesn’t Limp”
Stashed away in my supply of artifacts used for staging worship events is a large format print taken by a fine-art photographer-priest friend (in fact, he has a PhD from St Andrews re expressing theology through photography). The print is about 18 x 24 inches, and shows an old man having just exited a stone church building, passing from an area of sunlight in door area, into an area of shadows. The old man is walking with a cane.
I re-titled the work. “Out of the sunlight, and into the shadows, Christian walks with a limp.”