How cluttered is your church/faith life?  I know mine is very messy.  From the choirs I sing in (yes, plural) to the Board I serve on to the Bible classes and the books to read and the things to discuss and wonder and about which to pray.  I spent so much of my time thinking about my faith life, trying to remember what I’m supposed to be doing next in my church life, how I’m supposed to fit it all in, and then wondering how to streamline my faith life and church life so that they can dovetail together.  I want my life at church to hum along like a well-oiled and maintained machine.

There’s a website I like to read called unclutterer.com.  It’s an organizational nirvana, with interesting stories about ways to align your life with your priorities and pictures of beautiful and well-maintained office spaces.  But my favorite part is “Unitasker Wednesday.”  Every Wednesday, the website’s author finds a device/tool/object that very strangely, and often times absurdly, completes only one task, and usually not very well.  This is the kind of stuff you would find on the TV at 3 o’clock in the morning, only far, far less useful.

This, of course, begs the question, “Is there some way for me to organize my faith/church life?”  A plan or system or alignment that can bring it all together and make me able to move mountains, get it all done, and still get to choir on time.  And the answer is:

IT’S NOT ABOUT YOU, IT’S ABOUT JESUS FOR YOU!

There it is!  The Word of God is the ultimate Unitasker, only this one works as advertised and without fail!  All this time for working and planning and organizing, and completely missing the point!  I can spend the time I have doing things at church, being “involved” and trying my best to be a part of the church, but I’ve forgotten that I already am!  Jesus has called me to be His, to be part of His Bride the Church, in the Word with the Water in my Baptism.  He has called me by name, and given me Life Eternal in His Word.

“Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God.  And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.”  – Colossians 3:16-17

I don’t need to “organize” my faith life into my church life, and vice versa.  My Faith in Christ and Him crucified does it for me, not my own efforts or strength.  My priority is to read and study His Word, to listen to Him speak to me through the pages and the verses, and to repent of my desires to “be all that I can be” to the congregation.  A Faithful existence is not one filled to the brim with “church,” but one filled to the brim with God’s Word and Sacraments.  The clutter is swept away, and from that faithfulness comes the work that God has laid out for me, and the use of the talents that He has given to me to serve His church.

“Now therefore fear the Lord and serve him in all sincerity and in faithfulness.”  – Joshua 24:14 (My confirmation verse…oddly appropriate.)