Prop: dusty bowl

This bowl hasn’t been used in a long time. You can tell, because it’s covered in dust. It hasn’t been touched, cleaned, moved, because it’s been here in this church on this shelf a very long time. [You could also refer to something in a glass case or anything that has sat around for a while.] It’s not being used in ministry or worship. It isn’t something that is used in healing people or baptizing them. It’s here on the shelf, gathering dust.

This is perhaps one of the best metaphors we have right now for the church in America. The question is –does it describe yours?

Why is it so hard for us in the church to move on? To move from our habits, and our “memories,” our nostalgia of days gone by, or some “golden age,” and be about serving real people in a real world in “rea…