I’ve been thinking about our whole concept of church. Do we have it right? I don’t know. Something seems missing. You walk into the building (more on that later), and people seem distant. “Hey” and “what’s up?” abound, but something is lacking. A sense of realness. A closeness. A friendliness.
We don’t really act like a family.
We all walk into that building on Sunday with troubles. We have thoughts and questions about life. We have failures and successes that we want to share with people. We want people to be there to comfort us and celebrate with us.
But we can’t let others inside. You don’t DARE show that something is wrong in that church building. That’s not a good Christian! Christians must always be smiley faces and happy-go-lucky. Something is wrong with you if you aren’t happy. Something is messed up if you don’t act like life is just the most awesomest thing ever.
So we hide. We put on our miming masks and go through those doors. And that’s a shame.
But First, the Building
But before I get to how Christians act towards each other, I want to deal with the church “building”. Over the centuries*, we have worshipped in huge buildings. It’s natural, right? Just have a central place where people can gather. People can worship there. The building can serve other functions as well.
The problem is that we now think of the building as the church. No, the church is the PEOPLE. When you go shopping with another believer, you are doing church. When you go over to another believer’s house, you are doing church.
The church is simply the group of Christians on earth. Believe it or not, it would still exist if every meeting structure jumped into a lake.
Now, Back to Church
Lights, camera, action! Let church begin! People roll inside and everyone just does their thing. We are supposed to be a family, right?
Imagine that happening at your house. You go inside and no one really acknowledges anyone else. Curt nods and “hey”, and people move on. That would not be a place people would want to be. And that can sometimes be our Sunday church experience.
How can we change this? How can we be real? There are several solutions:
1) Live life together! Get involved in others’ lives. Invite people over, visit a shelter, volunteer together. When you hang out with people, you realize they are real. They have emotions and hopes and dreams. They matter.
2) Be real in conversations. When someone asks how you are doing, be honest. Just say, “I’m struggling at the moment. Can you pray for me?” And people would be more than glad to do so.
3) Celebrate and mourn with people. Go alongside of people when they are going through ups and downs. Be there for them! Let them know you care. People will remember that it was you who walked with them through their saddest and happiest times. And they’ll be there for you.
All of a sudden, the group of Christians you meet with (in a church BUILDING) will be more like family. Why? Because they are real to you. And you are real to them. The masks will be lifted.
*Don’t quote me on this, but I think this began around the 4th century. When Christianity became legal, it was natural for Christians to stop meeting at homes and build temple-like buildings. And that is how we got to today.
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