I was in a board meeting the other day for a non-profit community, I am a part of in Boulder. In a moment of feeling overwhelmed by all that was before us to accomplish, the question was raised, what is the true business of our organization? The person asking was looking to prioritize and yet what emerged was enlightening. If we had to melt down all that we do the highest priority, and thus the true business is our relationships. If we are doing business for business sake, creating opportunities to develop communities and our relationships are suffering, then we have missed the mark.

This made me start wondering about the "business" of the church. What is our core priority? If we are running around doing church, planning wonderful events, coordinating amazing speakers, programs and creating spectacular gatherings, what is our core focus and how do we know if we have accomplished that or are slightly off in our attempts? Many times we have such rich creativity, profound enthusiasm, astute attunement to others needs, and we cultivate new and wonderful opportunities. I wonder if we push pause for a moment, and reflect, is this accomplishing the "business" of the church? Or has it become the "busy-ness" of the church? I am reminded of an old camp song, (I think it's in the hymnal now which shows how old I really am) They Will Know We are Christians by Our Love. My wondering this week, is for all the amazing things we do at Montview, if we forget to see each other, to cultivate the relationships, to be mindful of already overpacked schedules, we may have missed the mark, no matter how over the top wonderful a program is for our community. If we don't cultivate the pauses, to be with each other, to hear each other, to love each other, we might have lost the forest for the trees. So one question, I will be asking myself in 2014, how can we infuse love in all we do, in all of who we are?

That for me is the business of the church.

Learning together on this journey
Dee