So far we've discussed what church is and isn't, and also some of the issues we've created in putting up a dichotomy of sacred and secular, now I want to end what happens at a church's gathering. The reason I want to end with this is simply: for years this has been the end all for a Christian. If we could just get people to go to church on a Sunday it was like we caught the leprechaun at the end of the rainbow. But, this has never been the point for those who follow Jesus and merely want to point to the works of Jesus through word and deed. The reason, which we've covered in the past posts is because what happens on a Sunday is not the end all for the follower of Jesus, but merely another expression of the church gathered.
So, what happens on a Sunday?
Depending on the church family, Sunday can be focused on many things. It can be focused on a great performance from the band on stage, from the dude speaking or the events for the kids. It can look anywhere from a mini Christian Disneyland, to a funeral and everywhere between. I am not going to try and break all this down, but want to focus on why my church gathers on a Sunday.
We see Sundays as a celebration. We see it as a bunch of people sent by God coming together glorifying what he has done, is doing and will do in our lives. One of my pastors put it, "It's like a mini missionary conference." When you come to our gathering we have people coming from all over South King County to sing to Jesus, talk about Jesus and tell how Jesus is informing us to build community in where we work and live. We understand that the only reason we are given the ability to build community and show off who he is, is because of what he has done in our lives. We hear the bible preached, or proclaimed to us, with the good news of what Jesus has done for us and is continuing to do and how Jesus is the answer to our greatest needs and desires.
After the bible is preached, we then take communion, which Jesus told us to do to remember him and what he did for us. The bread represents his body which was broken and represents his life that he lived on our behalf while he was on the earth. The wine or grape juice represents his blood that he shed for the forgiveness of our sins. We take this with those in our community, with our families and thank him for all he has done for us and continues to do for us. It is a time to remember Jesus.
We try to do everything well, because we want represent God even as we celebrate. But, we aren't overly flashy. For example: we don't dress up, but dress in what we'd wear throughout the week. The reason for this is because Jesus wore what was common in the culture and when "dressing up" is mentioned in the New Testament when the church gathered, it was spoken, at best, in a negative fashion (James 2:1-7). So, when you enter our gathering you'll notice everyone wearing what you'd expect if you saw them on a Friday night hanging out at a BBQ.
Our gathering is pretty simplistic. We don't want to cause stress on people to put together some huge spectacle on a Sunday as that would take time away from them to be in their community showing off Jesus. Those churches that put together large gatherings with lots of production takes a ton of time and money, and although that might what they believe God is calling them to, it's just not what we feel God is calling us to on a Sunday.
What we want anyone to realize as they enter our gatherings on a Sunday is that there is truly one agenda: praise and worship God alone, because of Jesus, through the Holy Spirit.
We want anyone to feel welcome. We want them to see that this has nothing to do with who we are, but everything about who God is. We don't want it to be some sort of club one enters into and feels as though they are going to get a sales pitch about our church. We just want people to be comfortable to explore and celebrate who Jesus is. Sometimes we do this well, sometimes we do it very poorly. The one thing we always promise is that we as God's people will always do it imperfectly, so we ask for your forgiveness ahead of time.
We don't believe we have it "figured out" but what we do desire is for Sunday to be an extension of what the church is already doing throughout the week. We don't want Sundays to be an "end all" for the church. Sometimes we are packed on a Sunday, sometimes we are not. The reason is that when our people feel as though a neighbor needs help or that they can bless their community in another way on a Sunday morning, they are released to do so instead of feeling this burden to "go to church" on a Sunday. When one realizes that they are the sent one of God to show off what he is like, Sunday becomes a celebration with other sent ones, not a time to "get your fix of holiness" or some place that we just want to get our neighbors and friends into so that we can make them like us.
The next logical thing to ask is this: Do I desire for my neighbors and friends to go to my church gathering? This is a yes & no answer...which we'll leave for next time. But, my motivation for loving our neighborhood is NOT to get them to a church gathering or even become religious...my motivation is all about what God has done for me and I just want people to at least see what he is like.
Again...what if our neighbors and friends knew that we were building community and friendships without some hidden agenda to "get them into church" but merely were doing it because of what Jesus did for us and how he told us to live? What if we were honest with them and they knew we weren't perfect and we didn't pretend to be? What if we were honest with them and told them we don't have all the answers? What if we just started to be good humans? What if we loved neighbor like we love ourselves?
Maybe then Gandhi's words would be reversed:
I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians, they are so unlike your Christ.
Maybe.
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