ChristianWeek

I’m not sure if what I’m about to say represents sin in my life or insight from above. You decide. Here’s the bottom line: Christians stink.

This is not a new observation, that’s for sure. But for no good reason I was suddenly struck by the thought. It happened while my wife and I were cashing in a Christmas gift (from our sons) and enjoying a couple days of comfortable leisure at a resort centre.

One evening we were in the restaurant for a fine dining experience when I noticed a group at a nearby table and overheard snippets of their conversation. Within minutes I decided they were pastor couples, and took a guess at what denomination they were from. Occupational disease.

Sure enough, the next day it became clear that they were the advance party for an annual denominational pastors’ retreat. (I’d guessed correctly.) By evening the resort was packed with nice people catching up with old friends, discussing ministry matters and gathering for worship sessions. There’s nothing wrong with any of that.

However, I was in detached vacation mode, and the reverberations of praise songs and bonhomie in the hallways seemed strangely out of place. The sight of so many committed Christians overwhelming the venue reminded me of an old line comparing missionaries to manure. Pile them up in one place and they stink, the saying went, but spread them around and they do a lot of good.

Truth be told, these particular ministry workers get together once a year for a few days of refreshing, refilling and renewal. Then they head back to numerous towns and communities scattered throughout Manitoba and Saskatchewan where they work in relative isolation from their ministry peers. They need this kind of coming together as much as I needed to break away from all my networks and connections. It’s odd that we should end up in the same place at the same time.

None of us could afford to stay there very long, which is probably a good thing. Soon enough we were all back to work where, presumably, we are doing some good. It’s kind of like our regular church and worship patterns.

We need to gather with other Christians or our souls soon whither, but hanging out at the church with other Christians all the time is not the best way of sharing the love of God with the people who most need to encounter it.

We need our sanctuaries and times of refreshing, but these are like water stations on a marathon route—a welcome pause on the journey, not a destination.