City on the Hill

City on the Hill
Casting Crowns

Did you hear of the city on the hill?
Said one old man to the other
It once shined bright and it would be shining still
But they all started turning on each other

You see, the poets thought the dancers were shallow
And the soldiers thought the poets were weak
And the elders saw the young ones as foolish
And the rich man never heard the poor man speak

And one by one, they ran away
With their made-up minds to leave it all behind
And the light began to fade in the city on the hill
The city on the hill

Each one thought that they knew better
But they were different by design
Instead of standing strong together
They let their differences divide

And the world is searching still

But it was the rhythm of the dancers
That gave the poets life
It was the spirit of the poets
That gave the soldiers strength to fight
It was the fire of the young ones
It was the wisdom of the old
It was the story of the poor man
That needed to be told.....

This song is beautiful. What a wondrous picture is painted by the words. I love the message of unity and acceptance. It makes me think of the ministries and friends in my life. Do we rely on each person to build the others up?

Nope.

I hate to be blunt, but I think it is true. And I contribute to it. You see, I think that so often, when we are in a good place with God, or even when we are not, we think that our way of expressing and living for God is the one right way. We want everyone to see as we see, instead of wanting everyone to see as God sees. I know that I am guilty of this. It is hard to understand others sometimes, even if we are the most understanding person. People with very different ways of worshiping, talking about Jesus, and participating in fellowship are sometimes hard to connect to at first. The quiet people are ignored because people get tired of trying to talk to them, and the loud people are sometimes seen as unapproachable. Little do we realize how much of an impact we could have if the two could work together. And all the other kinds of people too. If our dancers could give our poets life, who could give the soldiers strength, who could protect the young and the old, poor and rich. If the spiritually mature could support the spiritually young, and if the spiritually young could motivate the spiritually mature.

As cliche as it sounds, we are like a puzzle. Each piece is different, and fits perfectly into the body of Christ. We all have a unique perspective of God to bring to the church, a unique way to serve God. Oftentimes it can seem very similar on the surface, but at the heart of it, each person's journey is different, so each person's experience of God is a different facet of who He is. And if we pull together we can get a clearer picture of God because we listen to each other, feel with each other and praise God together.

Of course we will not be perfect as the body of Christ until we are called home. But we can work hard to improve the way we are now. We can let God bring us together instead of our style of worship, our personality type and our comfortableness. It isn't easy. Who ever said it would be? But it is beautiful. And as Mark Hall said, "When we pull together and stop talking about what we are against, and a little bit more about what we're for, then we start to see God move."

I want to live in the city on a hill, where the poets and the dancers and the soldiers and all the other folks appreciate how much we rely on each other. Don't you?