Church

Church is such a small, single syllable word, but a huge undertaking. Historically churches have been places of great comfort, strength, wisdom, and love. Churches have also been places of great pain, ridicule, division, and difficult conflict. Churches have been places of both selfishness (self-centeredness) along with selflessness (other-centeredness). 

From the time of the ancient church, the first followers of Jesus, the people of the Way, gathered in local homes instead of a central building after the death of Jesus, up until now there has been long discernment about what church is. 

When we think of church in modern times, we may hold onto an image in our minds of Christians gathering in a building that involves some sort of traditional worship service. What is church, how do churches operate in the world, and what value does a church hold for a community are all questions that are as ancient as the first “home churches”. 

What if.

What if “church” isn’t Christian at all? O boy and a little uh oh.

What if churches are simply people gathered in a common faith community, exploring the world in which we all live, following a common deity or spiritual leader. What if churches are places of exploration, spiritual discovery, and transformation, walking hand in hand along this common journey we call life. What if exploration is the key component of being an effective church for the people in the gathered community as well as the community at large. 

What if we don’t come to church. What if we create church together and then take the church out into the world. Not to judge the world with a set of holiness codes in order that we set ourselves apart as better than, but instead to walk with and within the world, as a people of faith. What if our faith is the place we enter into our hearts and the church is the communal invitation, working towards spiritual transformation. 

What if that is the point of any faith community, no matter what we call ourselves, Christian or otherwise.

What if we are all on the same journey of life working to create a place where our commonality of understanding and yearning, not beliefs, brings us together in a certain place in a certain time. 

See, what if church is not Christian at all? Can we imagine a different way of seeing that word lived out in our lives?

What if all faith communities gather for the same exploration reaching towards the same goal of understanding our soulful relationship with the Divine and one another.

O boy!! 

That means that the Divine has no earthly boundaries. The Divine is free to reach out to all who explore this relationship throughout time, place, and space.

Church then becomes a place of welcoming and exploring. A place of openness and invitation. A place of love and acceptance. 

Church becomes a place that Jesus would be welcomed, no matter the location or faith practice. 

I know. That sounds non-Christian. 

Maybe Jesus is bigger than Christianity.