Wednesday, August 22, 2007
What does the word "church" mean today?
I spent the morning surfing around different sites/blogs focusing on faith and the church. One of the sites asked an intriguing question that deserves some thought. The central idea to this particular post was to examine exactly what the term "church" means to people today. As I begin to ponder how I would respond to this question I am reminded that responses from society today would be varied (as in any generation I would imagine) . There certainly would not be a universal answer to this question. It seems for many the term "church" has grown to mean an institution that houses worship and a church community and is an exclusive place for the righteous or at least for those who sin as we do. Hearing or reading the term may also bring sour tastes in the mouths of individuals who have experienced negative interaction with the "church" and "church" people or fear in light of the recent stories of neglect and abuse by church officials. All this can serve to sadden those who love the church. Yet in the midst of that sadness comes empowerment as children of God to change the way that term is viewed by being the radical, grace filled body that brings real faith to real life. The church that I want to be a part of wades out into the abyss of messy lives and situations and brings God's message of forgiveness, hope, love and grace without beating up an already beaten world. The church that I want to be a part of expects brokenness, doubt and struggle as well as joy, spiritual engagement and the notion that we are put here in this place to live in community loving and serving one another as God loved us. Power lies in the thought that the church can be a welcoming place to figure it all out in good company, with a bunch of confused, empty, sinful people faithfully looking for hope in a world that can seem hopeless.
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8 comments:
man i love what you wrote... i would love to be part of a community like you describe... but i'm sure they don't exist, at least i have found none to exist. i'm lutheran too:( and i have not found anything even remotely close to what you describe. perhaps there is hope, but i'm not holding my breath.
i just want to be a part of something that takes the way of jesus and journey's with it. to follow the way of jesus as best we can...no pretences...no doctrinal s@#$%...just respond to sharing as jesus would share. to share what we have like jesus desires us to do. why does the church always seem to be about the individual? shouldn't the church be about the other?... by the way i hate the word church...it should be "faith community"!!!
anyway...great post...and i like the other stuff you've posted as well.
"faith community". I like it and it certainly speaks to what we hope to be. Thanks for the post. Maybe the "real" question is how do we Lutherans live into the change that God is calling us to be?
"Church" is, unfortunately, a negative word to a lot of people. My guess would be that a lot of people think of "church" as a place and not as a community. They may think of it as a building with walls, a place of worship, a location...the literal, physical bricks and mortar of what "church" is.
To me, "church" is the people. It IS the faith community. "Church" is me and you, the children, the choir, and all the people with whom we worship. We could worship in the woods, in someone's driveway, or in the Wal-Mart parking lot and that would be our church. The physical building or place of worship doesn't really define us. It's nice to own a place to shelter us and to have an investment in property, but beyond that, the physical building doesn't mean a whole lot.
So I wish people would/could see "church" as a faith community. A place where people can be in fellowship with others.
Last Sunday someone at church said something I loved. He said, "I don't know about all this formal church stuff -- I just want to get to know God better." I thought that was such an awesome statement, so honest and real. That's the journey I want to take with everyone in our faith community. I just want to get to know God better and to make that journey with other people.
smh: Great comment. I think you are right on when you define the "church" as the people that gather together to support each other and learn more about God. What we want to be about is just that, having folks whose greatest desire is to get to "know God better" journey together to figure out how to make that type of community grow, flourish and be welcoming to all.
For most, I think the word Church is looked at as a positive word if you were raised with a positive outlook on God and spirituality and vice versa.
I also think church is much more than the walls where we worship. The word is also about friends, family, your pastor, singing and the love of God. The funny thing is the people who have a negative outlook on church and going to church just need something very simple to change their minds. As SMH said they just need something informal and "easy". Somthing so small can change the sterotype they have in their head.
SMS: I can appreciate what you are saying about the church. So often we "church" types present God's simple message of love, forgiveness, grace and acceptance and instead of making it informal and easy to digest we use church language and stuff that ends up confusing people and sometimes the pastor:) I would like to see St. John's continue to experiment with informal ways (like this blog) to engage people in faith conversation and see where the Holy Spirit leads us.
I am new to your blog here, so I hope that you are still reading old posts!
Pastor, what you would say to people who don't feel welcomed by the church? As I read the comment from smh, I was skeptical. My experiences with church are that it's an elite club- you must know the rules, regulations, and mores of the particular church before you are accepted. This can not be what Jesus meant for us. Still, I feel so intimidated by the "bricks and mortar" and the pomp and circumstance of the pastors that I find myself reluctant to come.
Pastor, what can someone like me do? I am ready to learn, but so scared.
Regina:
First,thank you for raising an excellent question and leaving a thought provoking comment. I apologize for not getting to it sooner. I am just getting used to blogging and did not check the older posts for a few days.
That said, lets dig into your comment. I always try to inquire with people when they visit if they felt welcomed at our church. I am earnestly interested in the response of our visitors. My hope is that we would be a place where folks would feel free to check us out, take us for a drive around the block if you will, and decide if our church is a place for them to plant roots and where a few things hopefully happen:
-that you would feel like you can worship and praise God freely
-that you would leave our worship community spiritually fed.
-that you would feel the support of a loving community centered in serving one another.
-that you would feel that we are an inclusive place where everyone is welcomed and does not feel intimidated by rules and regulations-we have our share but I hope they do not get in the way-but feel the freedom of figuring out together how we can be the church God calls us to be, one that welcomes people from all points on the faith journey whether they are confident, questioning, curious or doubtful of God existence. We want to be a safe place to explore it all.
Then comes the rub. Do I hope upon hope that we accomplish these things on a regular basis-yes. Do I believe we get it right all the time-no. That is why I inquire with new folks if they felt welcomed. It is so important-and I really want to know the truth of how we are doing. The church has spent too many years driving as many people as it attracted by acting like the broken, flawed people we are and not paying attention to how people are welcomed.
The community we are creating at St. John's can feel at times like a pipe dream, but I believe that is exactly what God calls us to be about. God calls us to cast a vision that is so great that it can only be accomplished through God's intervention. At St. John's, we hope to be a church that journeys together to where God is leading us, recognizing that there will be bumps in the road, but ultimately acknowledging that we are all blessed, forgiven children of God who are on a journey creating the community God is calling us to.
The best thing that someone like you can do is to come and be among us, to let us know how we are doing,learn and grow with us. Faith and faith journeys is scary stuff. I applaud you for taking this leap of faith and inquiring. I would say keep asking questions, wondering and dreaming about how God is directing you knowing that it is ok to be on the journey and not have it all figured out. The church should ultimately be a place where you can feel comfortable figuring it.
Again, thanks for the post.
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