I used to think it would be really great if I was surrounded by family who were all believers like me. I watch people who were raised in "Christian" homes and have generations of believers who go before them and I used to think I was missing something by not having that for myself or my children until 13 years ago in our family. Don't get me wrong there is absolutely something wonderful about a legacy like that but I have to tell you lately I have begun to appreciate more and more having a family that questions my faith, my belief system and the Church.
I have people in my life who are on their own spiritual journeys that definitely don't look anything like mine. I have loved ones who think this is just my latest "thing" that I have decided to be passionate about but only until something else comes along and there are others close to me who have an absolute hatred for anything connected to the Church. I used to spend a lot of time being sad about having to defend my faith to them trying really hard to prove to them that all they think about the Church is not true. But the truth of the matter is I am grateful for having people who question, and even doubt my faith and this Church I belong to because it keeps me from glossing over things that go on in this big community of ours and causes me to lift the veil of truth to keep me from becoming the blue haired lady in the back row who simple accepts what goes on, that lady who has grown old in her belief of the importance of attending Church on Sunday, giving money and going "with the flow".......that lady who lost her "FREAK, her JESUS FREAK"
I have seen us, this community of believers, take ownership of things that belong to God and twist them to suit our own purposes. I have witnessed us use the mission work we do as badges of honor to prop us up in the eyes of the Church, the idea of freely giving to God what belongs to Him but only if we will "profit" from it in the form of a tax receipt and worst of all I watch as we take Church and try to squish it into some weird "formula" of how it is supposed to look. While I admit I have ALOT to learn about the Word of God but it seems pretty clear to me that this strange ownership we have of Church( the building and the very word itself) seems to be a strange way for us to separate ourselves from the very people we are called to love and share the Good News with.
The bibles definition of Church comes from the Greek word ecclesia which means a called out company or assembly. When it is used in the bible it is referring to people (Acts 19:30-41) (Ephesians 1:22 Ephesians 5:25,32 ) We as believers are called the church, our bodies the temple of God and like a physical building we also have a cornerstone foundation which is Jesus Christ. I realize this may sound like I am anti-church but actually I am not. I think people and communities all have the right to assemble where they want, in whatever building they want, sing whatever songs they want, pray on their knees or standing or sitting, drink coffee during service or not, wave flags or raise their hands or do whatever else the community they belong to decides helps bring them into unity with one another and especially with God.......but this seems to be my problem actually . You see I believe that EVERYONE has the right to pray, worship and belong wherever they feel their church is, even if its doesn't look anything like the place I go (which by the way is in a Legion building) . You see in 13 years of ministry I discovered that many people talk about how they don't believe in God but the truth is when you dig down its not God they don't believe in its the hypocrisy of the place that did not make them feel welcome that they want to have no part of. I know with the movements lately of urban churches etc that are "welcome to anyone" seem to pop up but I want you to know there are still people among us whom that "formula" doesn't welcome them at all. I actually do know of a couple of places that do welcome all people well but they are the exception rather than the rule AND I also know that they are to be "officially" called something else when they meet on a Sunday because to call it church is not allowed because essentially whether we believe it or not we Christians have taken ownership of the very word. I know the people we talk about that we are called to love on a Sunday morning but the truth is they would rarely be welcomed with their smelly clothes, bags of "treasure" that are covered in bugs and their inability to sit still for 30 minutes and not interrupt with questions that will come up when we use our "churchy language" and theology when we are explaining a passage. Some of us don't even understand when the pastor is speaking but even we don't dare ask.
If the bible says church is within us and an assembly of people gathered to worship why do we try to only mold it into something that s comfortable for the majority of us inevitably leaving a group of people left out like some weird cafeteria scene in high school where the cool kids who are better dressed and considered cool don't dare welcome those other kids to their table? Maybe we need to have a conference called the Breakfast club.We do realize that church doesn't look the same in other parts of the world right? The way people gather in Africa won't look the same as the way people gather in China but it is still church right!?
isn't the point of this Christianity thing to share the Good News that Jesus dies for all of us? Isn't that the idea of missionaries who risk their lives overseas to tell this Good News to those who may never get the chance to hear it? Shouldn't that include the homeless individual who will never fit into most church buildings on a Sunday morning? Shouldn't they be able to hear the Word, worship, pray, ask questions when they don't understand, swear and come as they are to the feet of Jesus in a place , any place that they feel like they belong? Shouldn't they be able to call this place their church even if it doesn't fit the mold WE have created ? Are they not also temples of the Holy Spirit are they not assembling with their community, the biblical definition of church? Gods table is big enough for everyone right?!?Or is it only Gods table if its in the comfort of our building, our rituals our kind of people?!................I really hope I am not going to have to go back to my next family dinner and tell them all that they were right about this whole church thing. I really don't want to do that.
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