G. K. Chesterton said, “The Christian ideal has not been tried and found wanting. It has been tried and found difficult.” I think this is true of church too. Church is hard. The church is God’s tumbler where God throws together those he has gathered and lets them rub each other the wrong way until beautiful.
When I polish agates in my tumblers, I will run them for days on a coarse grit and then open up the cans and wash all the grit off, put a finer grit in and start them tumbling again. Often I feel this way about church. Just when I think this friction is over and I have matured enough to love unselfishly, the tumbling and grinding starts again.
After years in the church, seeing the good, bad, and ugly—I understand why Paul was always urging early Christians to be loving, forgiving, forbearing, and patient with one another. If we aren’t, we would jump out of the tumbler and back into the world.
Small churches are often the best tumblers because people can’t just hang-out with people who share their interests and lifestyle. In small churches the rich and poor, educated and uneducated, and Republicans and Democrats must rub shoulders. In our little church, young folks have to get along with old folks. It creates a good friction that tests our love and polishes our character.
When my agates have gone through the final polish, I wash them and enjoy the smoothness of each stone. I hold each up to the light and marvel at the beauty as the sun shines through.
