The first mistake we made was a church building. You see, by calling the four walls Christians often meet in a "church", we've lost something.
We've lost the idea that we are the church. Not those four walls and a roof.
By nominating the church to a building, we go to church.
The second mistake we made was a set of activities that fill our Sunday mornings. By calling singing and preaching "church", we've lost something else.
By following the same pattern most churches do, we do church.
And we forget: we are the church. You. Me. Collectively, we are the church.
"Church" isn't something outside of ourselves that we choose to associate with on certain days of the week. If you are a Christ follower, you are part of the body of Christ. You are a piece of the church.
They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles. All the believers were together and had everything in common. They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved. Acts 2:42-47
How did we get from ^ that ^ to holding down padded chairs once a week for an hour? I can't speak for all Christians everywhere, but for me I know that...
...being busy gets in the way. Somehow, at the end of the day, I'm still left with a list of things to do that I didn't get done. And when I think back over the day, I realize my day was filled with pointless little nothings that I could have skipped. There would have been time in there to talk with a stranger, or play with a kid, or _______.
...being inconsistent with Bible study and prayer time creates a blurry focus. It's kinda hard to know what you're supposed to do if you don't read the instruction manual and talk to the boss. Without a clear picture of living for and worshiping Christ, we (I!) are guilty of going along with how it's always been done.
Which leads to the question: What are we going to do about it? What are you going to do about it? What am I going to do about it?
I, for one, want to get back to worshiping and serving out of joy and love for the Lord rather than duty. Maybe we need to ask ourselves some questions as we go through the "normal" motions of church. Did I mean what I just sang? Why don't we pray more during the service? Did I really pay attention to the sermon, and come away with questions to dig deeper into?
While I'm not denying that God can and will use anything, I have to ask myself: does the time I spend perfecting a bulletin insert to advertise an event have as much value as if I took that time and spent it tutoring a child whose parents don't care, or helping out at Soup Kitchen? Maybe... But maybe not.
When I see little boys (7? maybe 8?) riding down a busy street on bicycles with no parent in sight, or when I see the cars splash the elderly man walking down the side of the road in the rain because moving over a little would be too much trouble, I'm inclined to think that spending time making that half sheet of paper look nice really wasn't worth it...that spending time making the music sound nice in the service really wasn't worth it.
I need to stop doing church. I need to start being church.
We've lost the idea that we are the church. Not those four walls and a roof.
By nominating the church to a building, we go to church.
The second mistake we made was a set of activities that fill our Sunday mornings. By calling singing and preaching "church", we've lost something else.
By following the same pattern most churches do, we do church.
And we forget: we are the church. You. Me. Collectively, we are the church.
"Church" isn't something outside of ourselves that we choose to associate with on certain days of the week. If you are a Christ follower, you are part of the body of Christ. You are a piece of the church.
They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles. All the believers were together and had everything in common. They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved. Acts 2:42-47
How did we get from ^ that ^ to holding down padded chairs once a week for an hour? I can't speak for all Christians everywhere, but for me I know that...
...being busy gets in the way. Somehow, at the end of the day, I'm still left with a list of things to do that I didn't get done. And when I think back over the day, I realize my day was filled with pointless little nothings that I could have skipped. There would have been time in there to talk with a stranger, or play with a kid, or _______.
...being inconsistent with Bible study and prayer time creates a blurry focus. It's kinda hard to know what you're supposed to do if you don't read the instruction manual and talk to the boss. Without a clear picture of living for and worshiping Christ, we (I!) are guilty of going along with how it's always been done.
Which leads to the question: What are we going to do about it? What are you going to do about it? What am I going to do about it?
I, for one, want to get back to worshiping and serving out of joy and love for the Lord rather than duty. Maybe we need to ask ourselves some questions as we go through the "normal" motions of church. Did I mean what I just sang? Why don't we pray more during the service? Did I really pay attention to the sermon, and come away with questions to dig deeper into?
While I'm not denying that God can and will use anything, I have to ask myself: does the time I spend perfecting a bulletin insert to advertise an event have as much value as if I took that time and spent it tutoring a child whose parents don't care, or helping out at Soup Kitchen? Maybe... But maybe not.
When I see little boys (7? maybe 8?) riding down a busy street on bicycles with no parent in sight, or when I see the cars splash the elderly man walking down the side of the road in the rain because moving over a little would be too much trouble, I'm inclined to think that spending time making that half sheet of paper look nice really wasn't worth it...that spending time making the music sound nice in the service really wasn't worth it.
I need to stop doing church. I need to start being church.
This is so amazingly convicting, because you point out that I am the Church. I can't sit around and point out the Church's failings and not do anything, because the Church is not a corporation that exists to serve me. Since I am the Church, it's my problem too... So what am I doing?
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