Ripened when picked

Over lunch today, some of us from the Bloom team were reading through a few of the cards from Foodie Fight, a trivia game for people who love food. We were transitioning out of a three hour meeting that was heavy on operational tasks relating to church planting and moving into a creative meeting. We needed a palette cleanse for the brain. It worked!

One of the the cards read:

True or False: Mexican avocado growers sometimes “store” their crop on the tree for up to a year.

Answer: True (Avocados normally ripen only after they’ve been picked.)

Ripen after being picked…

Avocados.

Perhaps people, too?

This past weekend my friend Shannon opened our third soft launch service with a welcome and a bit of her story. This is no small deal. Shannon wasn’t into church. She didn’t go to church. She wasn’t a fan of church. In fact, she shared that she always felt judged at church, never loved. So she stayed away.

It seems like just yesterday that I had a conversation with her on my deck. I told Shannon I’d love to have her on our team. In essence, we “picked her” to come help us. I think she was shocked that we’d want her on our team since she wasn’t into church. Some might even say she was green.

The person who I talked with on the deck and the person who opened the service yesterday is the same person - just totally different. Shannon is still Shannon, but she has identified with the cause we stand for. Thus, she is not coming to church, Shannon now is the church.

She stood up there, poised, authentic and comfortable, and she shared what this young community had done for her. And she was ready.

***

Are people more like avocados? Do they need to be picked to play a meaningful role in church for them to ripen?

Are our churches like Mexican avocado trees, “stored up” with fruit that just needs to be picked for it to ripen?