"being" & "doing" misunderstood...

Two things have taken place that prompted this post.  

1.  A family who is part of the deep (Tracy & Lorraine Bush) moved this weekend and a couple of us helped with that process.

2.  A friend of my pointed out that for a church that uses a lot of "being" language our web site has numerous things you can "do" and only a few that are opportunities to simply "be".

This is really the same issue, in my opinion, that we see in James 2:14-26 when the Bible talks about faith and deeds.  

While it is the better of the two, the problem with only "doing" is that there is something important and powerful about not simply doing the proper thing but also having those actions flow from a deep internal reality.  Don't get me wrong, if you are giving out food the hungry person is still fed whether you really mean it or not, but your actions are not as meaningful and certainly not anywhere near as sustainable as if they were to flow out of who you are.

Then there is "being" all by itself!  What a pointless and immeasurable reality.  If I say, "I am something" but there is never any action to back it up, or better yet, to prove it, I am and  have nothing!  Like the bible says, faith without action is both meaningless and dead.

The point of my little rant is not to elevate one of these over the other, even in a small way, but rather to say that they are totally inseparable and should always go together. Every opportunity to "do" is also an opportunity to "be" and the opposite is true as well.

So what does helping someone move have to do with all this?  I just think that people make "church" far to difficult at times.  We are a church and we are part of the church (being).  From there when someone needs help as we are able we help (doing).  Simple opportunities arise all the time, and whether it is a friend, family member or stranger in our community it is easy to identify how we can "be Jesus by doing", most of the time!