Jesus could’ve chosen a world with phones that recorded his every word or cameras that reviewed his actions when they come under question. That way, when false accusations came (Mark 14:53-56), He could’ve easily refuted the claims.But Jesus chose the inconvenient world instead. And He ended up on the cross as a result. An inconvenient cross, beautiful in its love, transcendent in its splendor, and yet horrifying in its pain.

Last Saturday, our elders held our annual planning retreat outside on the hill by our church. The retreat has never been outside before, but COVID-considerations sent us there.

It was a beautiful setting. You could hear the birds and the sun was shining. And, you were also distracted by motorcycles roaring in the background, the bugs were biting, and sometimes it was pretty hard to hear socially-distanced elders making their points from across the hill.

It was beautifully inconvenient.

Ministry these days in a COVID-19 world, at least where I serve in Indianapolis, seems more beautifully inconvenient than ever.

At 2RP, we love our beautiful outdoor evening service setting. But it sure is harder and more inconvenient to get all the sound and video production ready for our new setting.

Our Bible school classes and studies continue as they always have. But now we try to incorporate a Zoom audience into some of these ministries, for those who are not comfortable attending in person. We love the technology, but inconveniences with WiFi or sound quality or something else arise almost every time.

It is beautifully inconvenient.

This is the season of life our God has led His church to. Across Jesus’ church, outreach ministries, shepherding activities, church weddings, congregational meetings, and more all have this simultaneous feature of beauty and inconvenience.

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