This is Church

I’ve been thinking a lot about church. Not just church as in the building I drive to four times a week with the 1970’s paneling in the hallway and the funky white rocks on the roof. I’m not even sure that I’m talking entirely about the “church proper”, the “holy catholic church” which unites all who claim the Nicene creed. I have this immense yearning in recent months to understand, what exactly is the church? What was it supposed to be? Is it what it was supposed to be?

In my almost-non-existent free time I downloaded Francis Chan’s Letters to the Church to give me something to occupy my mind while I wash dishes or put crayons away in the resource room next to my office. It. Completely. Wrecked. Me. For days it as all I could think or talk about. Chan opened chapter one with “Imagine you find yourself stranded on a deserted island with nothing but a copy of the Bible. You have no experience with Christianity whatsoever, and all you know about the Church will come from your reading of the Bible. How would you imagine a church to function? Seriously. Close your eyes for two minutes and try to picture ‘Church’ as you would know it. Now think about your current church experience. Is it even close? Can you live with that?” (9). Ouch.

Many will say they believe in God but not “organized” church. Church is full of hypocrites and unkind people. True. The world is full of those people and the church exists in the world. I can not argue this. I grew up the daughter of a church secretary. If anyone has witnessed messy, unkind and downright spitefulness, it is a church secretary. They won’t tell you this but it’s true. Some of the most stinging friendly-fire wounds I have had have come within ministries I’ve been a part of. It’s unfortunately a common reality that I have decided to not give Satan the pleasure of taking advantage of. And, all churches are full of quirky human beings. Because God is so very funny, most likely the one person in your church of 20 or 2,000 with the personality flaws most opposed to (or most like) yours will undoubtedly join every single group you do and then be paired with you on just about every project imaginable until you “get it right” and finally learn to love them like Jesus does. Because, in my opinion, that is the most important purpose of the church that you will absolutely miss out on the blessing of, if you decide to just pod-cast it from home or “make nature your church” as my generation has done. God intends for a big group of hopelessly flawed individuals to go through the shaping process of learning to love each other and work together in unity despite our differences. On earth as it is in Heaven.

Francis Chan talks about the “supernatural” love expected of the Church. He says, “One thing the New Testament makes clear is that the Church is supposed to be known for its love. Jesus says our love for one another is the very thing that will attract the world. But can you name a single church in our country that is known for the way its members love one another? I’m sure you can think of churches known for excitement or powerful preaching or worship or production value. But can you name a church known for supernatural love?” (73). At first, I felt defensive, ready to give counter-examples and then he writes, “Sometimes we are too quick to label our church experience as ‘Christian love.’ Jesus made it clear that even sinners know how to love one another (Luke 6:32-34)” (74).

But should we feel hopeless? Absolutely not. I have good news and bad news…one of the most important things I have learned in my New Testament course this semester has been that the New Testament church we all long far was far from utopian. Take Corinthians for example. In our class lecture, Review of the Pauline Writings Powers stated, “The fact of the matter is that the church in Corinth was a pastor's nightmare.” I won’t list the reasons, but read through it, and count all the ways in which they were a hot mess.

I believe what’s important is that we see what it should be and through the power of the Holy Spirit we work towards being that. Not an entertainment center, a country club, a theater, a concert, a building, business or organization, but The Church. I feel I’ve had glimpses of this beautiful, radiant bride of Christ doing what she was created for within my church. This is what the church looks like-

This October’s trunk or treat felt different somehow. Together we passed out candy, smiles and love. No strings attached. Maybe they would like us. Maybe they would come back. Maybe they’d even become contributing members and fellow volunteers. But maybe they wouldn’t. We were much more concerned with our obedience to the command to love our neighbors than we were with what their response would be. And the people felt it. In the prayer cards we made available people left message about the warmth they felt that night and the appreciation for creating a safe place to welcome the little ones. And prayers. Real, gut wrenching needs. But, maybe most impactfully, our neighborhood witnessed us loving each other. We enjoyed each other. Our grill-master, Grant, kept putting that stupid onion in people’s candy buckets when they weren’t looking, we conspired with our visitors about beating last year’s “best dressed trunk” and we ran to embrace those we hadn’t seen in a long time. It felt so church.

photo by George Schindler

A few weeks ago, we kicked off advent with what we call, Chaotic Christmas. Instead of Sunday school class for children and adults that day we brought everyone outside and together. We set up booths hosted by volunteers with opportunities for families to experience rather than just hear the story of Jesus through different games, crafts and toys. We even sang happy birthday and served a cake in honor of Jesus. We were able to partner with and support parents, giving them the tools and opportunity to be the leaders in the children’s faith development. Our seniors worked alongside teens and played with toddlers. It was beautiful. My heart was full.

I remember the church being the hands and feet of Jesus to us when Moses was going through cancer treatment. People served us and gave in sacrificially radical ways. A defining moment in the history of our church was the day that our little friend Penny received her heart transplant, after many months of waves of prayer sweeping over them and unity forming over a common desire. The Spirit has shown up in so many ways.

Not every moment looks like Chaotic Christmas. Sometimes it’s not all candy and grins or even 4 a.m. prayer vigils and holding each other tightly in hospital waiting rooms. But in those moments when we catch a glimpse of the spirit at work in the hearts of our people, we can stop and take a mental picture and look forward to the day when we can recognize and say, “This is Church.”

photo by Ryan Albaugh

Chan, Francis. Letters to the Church. Crazy Love Ministries, 2018.

Powers, Daniel G., Ph.D. Background of Paul’s Letters. 2018 Nazarene Bible College

The Holy Bible, New International Version. Grand Rapids, Zondervan House, 1984. Print.