Thoughts on Church

You can’t “go to church.” To use that phrase implies that church is something outside of our selves. It is not a place; it is not a destination; it is not a day of the week; it is not a building. Church is the Body of Christ, which is the group of people choosing to follow Him together in community.

This understanding, “the Body of Christ,” may have lost some of its “oomph” the way that phrases often do. Maybe it is because of overuse or because we haven’t stopped to consider the depth of its meaning. Our bodies are alive. Our bodies are composed of vital organs working together in harmony to perform one singular purpose. This purpose is life.

Rightly understood, Sunday morning – or whenever the church meets for communal worship -- is just one expression of this Body coming together. You might say that this is just one form of exercise for the Body, a way of bringing our spiritual muscles into formation. But I wonder if it is possible for this Body to ever be in shape if we only exercise one hour per week. I wonder if we are missing out on the other forms of exercise that we need.

The point of this post is not to say that “we should be doing more.” Maybe I am simply suggesting that we need more. Maybe many of us are spiritually struggling by Sunday morning, because we have not yet discovered how to be the church together throughout the week. This is not another commandment. It is a recipe for those of us who are spiritually hungry. Jesus’ model of prayer reveals that we should ask for our daily bread.

It is no wonder that many of us are starving if we only remember to eat once per week.

With love,

a young shepherd.