I believe it was the late Glenn Frey of the Eagles who said, “Rock and roll is not about perfection. It is about excellence.”
If I recall correctly, Frey was responding to the notion of achieving perfection on any given take in the recording studio. Frey called into question whether anyone could really know what “perfection” was if they heard it. On the other hand, if someone was doing their best – as the Eagles must have done on a regular basis, given their sales and longevity – that kind of excellence could produce monster hits.
Excellence worked well for the Eagles, apparently. I would suggest today that excellence – doing the best we can, period – might be a standard worth pursuing in the local church. In no way am I denying the very real need to be holy, through the power and presence of Christ, as we are clearly directed to be. Right now, I am focused on such external things as music in worship (can we stand one wrong note or a too-loud bass guitar?), or every fiber of the sanctuary carpet being exactly in place for Sunday morning, or the need for the Scripture reading to sound just like Morgan Freeman, or whether you can have youth group if you’re short on pizza funds, or… well, you get the picture. When things aren’t perfect, should we even try?
Of course we should! Our standards of carrying out rites, rituals and ceremonies, and especially the more every day activities of the local church like youth group, Bible studies, and other small group meetings, might actually need more focus on excellence than perfection. Consider the advice of church leaders from way back in the early generations of Christianity, maybe even from the late first or early second century. In a brief document called the Didache, one or more of these leaders coached the early church about how to “do” baptism. Catch this:
Concerning baptism, you should baptize this way: After first explaining all things, baptize in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, in flowing water. If you have no running water, baptize in other water; and if you cannot do so in cold water, then in warm. If you have very little, pour water three times on the head in the name of the Father and Son and Holy Spirit. (Didache, 7:1-7:3)
Now understand that the Didache was never canonized, although many think it to be a decent representation of the apostles’ teaching. It was meant to be a practical guide to doing church, not so much holy writ. And notice in this example of how to do baptism, circumstances did not have to be perfect for the baptism to “take.” One baptism did not have to look like the next. You used what was available. You did the best you could. You just did what you could to keep your heart ready:
Before the baptism, both the baptizer and the candidate for baptism, plus any others who can, should fast. The candidate should fast for one or two days beforehand. (Didache, 7:4)
I don’t know about you, but I am not at all sure that I would know perfection if I saw, heard, felt or tasted it. Yet I do know excellence. And I especially know when the Jesus followers around me are putting everything they know how into serving God, each other, and our neighbors. We may not be perfect – Holy Spirit is still doing that work inside us – but we understand the need to keep our hearts ready, and to do the best we can to God’s glory.
I truly believe that kind of excellence, in the hands of our loving God, could produce monster results.