Is this mic on?

“We can’t hear!”

“We can’t hear!”

“We can’t hear!”

From the New York Times:

Reverend V. Gene Robinson, the openly gay bishop from New Hampshire who advised Mr. Obama on gay rights issues, gave the invocation. But his words were lost to hundreds of thousands gathered along the Reflecting Pool and those tuning in on HBO. A malfunction in at least one massive speaker tower on the south side of the memorial left tightly-packed crowds on pins and needles chanting thunderously, “We can’t hear. We can’t hear.”

I cried today as I listened to a pod cast of this moment. I heard the crowd’s frustration as they watched Rev. Robinson take the stage but were unable to hear what he was saying. I am not trying to make more out of a technical glitch than necessary, but it made me think. Robinson was chosen by President Obama to represent Christians during the nation’s concert of prayer. However, Robinson represents, for those of us within the church, great divisions and controversy. His ordination sparked the greatest split in the Anglican Church in its history.

So I wonder. Is our mic still on? Is the church still speaking to the world around us- or are we just lost in our own dysfunctional club?

What is the church saying to the people around us, and does anybody even care? Jesus was crazy about the church. He risked everything for Her. He called her his “bride”. And she is the one thing He’s coming back for.

So is the bride as lovely as Jesus imagined? Is she becoming more like her bridegroom?*

What is my life speaking to the hopeless? Am I trying to sell something or am I truly offering Jesus in his purest form? I don’t know. But I do know that our world wants to hear, and our time here is very short.

Lord, help me not to get this wrong. You came to touch the untouchable, love the unlovable, and befriend the friendless. I want our mics to be on, and I want to speak the words of life. Please teach them to me. There are so many desperate people who need to hear them. Make me an instrument of your love- a connection between a hurting world and the One who hurt for them.

Amen

* (Theologically speaking I would have to say yes. I believe the Holy Spirit is transforming her in ways I can not see.)