Daily Pastoral #12
Maybe the point of church isn’t to see what group can speak better Christianese and be more performatively pious than the other groups. That would be a religion of us (vs. them, of course). It would be a false, blasphemous religion.
I think the aim of church is to sit next to each other in a room and point at how God’s grace is, was, and has always been moving into and re-creating this busted and beautiful world.
Church shouldn’t be like a race against other churches (or non-churches). Rather, we gather to stand next to each other under the eternal waterfall of grace that always pours out onto the world whether we go to church or not. In church, we just try our best to get as doused as we can by that waterfall and create rituals that allow us to enjoy our Christ-soakedness with our neighbors who are every bit as undeserving of it as we are.
As Ever,
Jonas
It’s posts like this that underscore your potential to make a difference with a call to digital spaces (among others). I could see “What is the point of church?” as a great topic for one of your interactive video conversations. To your excellent analysis here I’d add that the point of church is that, once soaked, we are called to go out into the world trying to make it a little less busted.
I love the image of "Christ-soakedness." Hearkens back to summer hose fights where barefooted joy and laughter till it hurts are a part of the water soaking. At a time when drought touches so much of the world, Jesus and water are Grace.