If we want a sustainable church, let ¢â‚¬â„¢s go to the lowest possible level
and build it on that foundation (gathering positively around love and
caring), and then keep rebuilding it with inherent tools (healing,
forgiveness, and community building around projects). Just gather  ¢â‚¬Å“two
or three ¢â‚¬  (Matthew 18:20 [1]) loving, committed, servant-oriented people
and we have the only real foundation for any healing and healthy church.
In fact, without it, you can have the most organized and orthodox church
in the world and no one will actually be changed or helped. As the
Beatles wrote in their song,  ¢â‚¬Å“Eleanor Rigby ¢â‚¬ :

Father McKenzie [will keep]
writing the words of a sermon that no one will hear
. . .
[Will keep] wiping the dirt from his hands
as he walks from the grave
[While] no one was saved

We have the product that everybody wants, it is all around us, and we
still make it scarce, hard to get, dependent on experts, and thus
finally unsustainable. We are not a  ¢â‚¬Å“permaculture ¢â‚¬  church.

Adapted from Emerging Church Conference, Swannick, England, 2010 (unpublished)

Starter Prayer:  ¢â‚¬Å“God comes to you disguised as your life. ¢â‚¬ 

Subscribe to Richard Rohr’s excellent Daily Meditations: www.cacradicalgrace.org