Yes, Sometimes It Is Awkward, But No, We Don't "Go To Church"

This evening we’re having a Fourth of July Hullabaloo. When I sent out the e-mail invitations, I said that it would be “at the building where we meet.” We meet get together as a church family every Sunday morning and we call it “Gathered Worship.” Though we catch ourselves slipping back into old ways of talking, we intentionally try to steer clear of saying things like we are “going to church.” Church is not something we do, it is not somewhere we go, it is our family.

Because Jesus reconciles us to the Father, we are no longer God’s enemies but heirs and believers are our brothers and sisters. This isn’t an ideal to be aimed for (though we do often fall short of living this way), it is a truth about who we already are because of Jesus. When we invite people to our home, we don’t say “would you like to come to family.” Those words just don’t work together in that way.

But we have come to view “church” simply as what happens in a specific building during a specified time. It is removed from daily life and as long as we can check it off our list of things to do for the week, we feel like our contract with God is OK.

But God says that the world will know that we are disciples of Jesus because of our love for one another (John 13:35), Paul says that we are supposed to think of others as more significant than ourselves (Philippians 2:3) and that we are to bear each other’s burdens (Galatians 6:1-2). This type of life won’t be possible until we stop thinking of church simply as something we do but as who we are as the children of God. We are called to share life with fellow believers, opening our homes and resources so that others might know the love of God that has reconciled us, not only to God but to others.

Sometimes it seems awkward to try and change the way we talk about church, but that’s not nearly as awkward as trying to change the way we live it. We at Church of the Cross are no longer content with superficial, once-a-week relationships. Yes, life together can be messy, but, as Bonhoeffer says in Life Together: “how inexhaustible are the riches that open up for those who by God’s will are privileged to live in the daily fellowship with other Christians.”

When was the last time you thought of the presence of other Christians as a privilege? Why don’t we think/live that way? What would have to change for our perspective to change?