"The Leaky Church"

Here's an instant replay of what happened in worship:

We heard Pastor Laura say her family had a recent discussion about whether the book of Revelation needed to be in the Bible at all. She said that it is important because it tells us where we are going, what the final chapter (not end times but God's restoration) will be.
We read Rev. 22:1-5 and saw the beautiful vision of God's restored Creation, where the river of life nourishes the trees with leaves for healing. But this river is also found in Ezekiel 47:1-12. Ezekiel had a vision of water flowing from the sanctuary of the Temple, and it spilled over thresholds and cascaded over window sills. As the river moved away from the building, it became deeper and deeper, nourishing the trees with leaves for healing. It is a vision of a leaky church!
We thought about so many of us live that vision backwards. It is inside church buildings that we are our best selves, our "truest" Christian selves. It is inside our church buildings that we praise God, pray, and say the name of Jesus aloud. But once we leave, we bottle up all that living water. God intends for the church to leak love, grace and healing all over our neighborhoods, schools and places of work.
We prayed that we would be a "leaky church" who spreads God's love and grace and healing far outside the walls of our building.
We celebrated communion at the table of Christ's brokenness and our wholeness.