March 25, 2010
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What does the word " church" mean to you?
A friend of mine posted this question on Facebook and I found myself so engaged by the question that I decided to copy my answer here.
When I think of the whole church, she is the bride of christ, who looks very similar to the humanity that he gave his life to save. As created, she is a beautiful rainbow reflecting the endless creativity of our creator, variety of personality and gifting he authors. However, in this broken world she also appears torn, fragmented and tarnished by the idols people make of their preferences and self protection, by abuse and unwillingness to forgive, and every other attribute of broken and sinful humanity. Her future is secure, as Christ, ruler of the universe, sees the beauty in her, loves and adores her, and will claim her as his bride. She will be freed from the ravages of sin and transformed to actually reveal the beauty of the original creation that is in her now yet hidden to most by the ugliness of her current brokenness.
When I think of church at the person to person relational level, I think of a family. People's real self comes out in the context of family. People often exhibit their worst behavior *and* most selfless love in the context of family. The family gathers together and actively pursues interaction with God, craving the interaction with open hearts and hoping to trade individual selfishness for the beautiful selfless love that draws them to worship their creator.
As the church is transformed, person by person, bit by bit, from selfishness to selfless love, one effect on the world around the church is one of relief, pause and sanctuary from the self-destruction that the broken state of humanity accelerates itself toward. Another effect is that the church grows as others recognize the beauty of this selfless love and respond to their own internal longing to participate in receiving and giving more of it, and in seeing it impact more of the world around them.
Finally, I'm reminded that I (and all of us really) still have a lot of growing to do in how much and how deeply we participate in the church as I have described her. We tend to get so caught up in viewing church as individuals. What did I get out of it, what did it do for (or to) me, etc. We're even so mired in this that we advertise it as such; what church can do for you, my church is so good to me and it can be so good to you too, etc. We forget about the us in our church. We forget how different the impact is on a local community when "another church fails " compared to when a person fails. We fail to recognize the atomic bomb size destruction and poisoning of hope that occurs when our lack of care and commitment to the church, God's agent of hope in the world, is abandoned and betrayed in favor of our individual selves.
One final note; not every group of believers is a viable expression of hope in the world. Practically speaking, some groups have become so entrenched in dysfunction that it might be simpler to end them so that their individual members can heal and grow in other groups that are actively becoming expressions of hope in the world around them. I would not be surprised to learn someday that God actively "prunes" his church this way. But it is a very different thing than a viable expression of hope losing effectiveness or even failing as a result of the self-absorbed individualism of its members.
Father ... I pray that you would have your will in the church ... not our will but yours be done .... that the beautiful rainbow reflecting your endless creativity and the variety of personality and gifting you have allowed and given, would be revealed in the church as she truly becomes and acts as your agent of hope in the world, in her communities.
