"Membership in the family of God is neither inconsequential or something to be casually ignored. The church is God's agenda for the world. Jesus said, "I will build my church, and all the powers of hell will not conquer it." The church is indestructable and will exist for eternity. It will outlive this universe, and so will your role in it."
- Rick Warren
Friday, August 6, 2010
I have a soft spot in my heart for the church. No, that's not right . . . actually, I'm in a teenage muddle, head over heels, oim gettin' married in the mornin', singing in the rain for the church. I don't know why, because I know that often times I can be a real jerk and a dark, negative light for the Lord and there are even times other people in the church are that way too, and it can get discouraging. I think it comes from a crisis of faith I had early in my Christian walk when the Lord showed me that my problem wasn't Him, and - here was the shocker - it wasn't them either. It was me, because I had taken my eyes off Him and put it on "them" and had become a hateful, graceless, Pharisaical hypocrite, judging my brothers and sisters who Christ Himself had died for.
While I'm certainly not where I need to be yet in my love for the brothers, I have learned over time that the grace of Jesus extends to not just me, but to all His followers. And while we, the church, certainly need to get our behonkuses kicked by the truth more often than not, and we, the church, fall off that poor, patient, long-suffering donkey to the right and the left more often than we stay balanced in the saddle, and even that I and others can be free to lovingly correct the church (and be lovingly corrected in return) . . . at the end of the Day we're all family.
That's why this post over at Confessions of a Bad Christian resonated so well with me tonight. The context of the post is the recent announcement by Anne Rice that she's done with Christianity.
But all I could see in my faith crisis were the hypocrites. The wounders. The gossipers. If I could have met Jesus at Starbucks I would have asked Him how he could love these jerks. I imagined it might go something like this. I am pretty sure that Jesus would order an extra shot Americano but I can’t prove that from the text.
Jesus: So I have noticed that you are struggling a bit. We don’t talk much anymore.
Me: Yeah. Your followers are making me crazy.
Jesus: Sometimes they make my heart ache too. For example, right now one of my children is missing all of the grace I want him to experience. He is missing the joy and freedom that I purchased for him. He is angry and proud and blind to his own sin. But I suffered the Cross for him. And I love him very much.
Me: (smirking) I bet he goes to my church.
Jesus: As a matter of fact he does. It’s you.
That was my epiphany. I couldn’t do it anymore. I needed Jesus. Following Christ is better than following His followers. But the truth is that I need that community as well. Trust me, I don’t need all of them. But there is a sweet spot in the chaos that is called the room of grace. In that room are people who are tired of the self-efforting path to righteousness. There are people who look at your mess and are not repulsed. In fact they grab a towel and clean up the worst of it and promise to walk with you through the rest. They love you more instead of less as you share your junk. And you find yourself being drawn more to Christ and being effused with energy by their loving acceptance. That place does exist. I pray that Anne Rice finds it. I pray that you will find it too. Finding that room of grace saved me from quitting. I am so grateful that I found it.
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Comments on "Needing Jesus, Needing His Followers":
2. Dave
- 08/07/2010 8:27 am CDT
It has become hip these days to condemn the Church, and in particular, the “American Church.” The American church is this. The American church is that. I understand the anger that drives much of this criticism. I’ve felt very angry myself at times. And I have identified with those outside the Body of Christ who find so much wrong within it.
But I’ve come to the conclusion that the Church is not my dog to kick around. And putting the word “American” in front of the word “Church” doesn’t make it any more acceptable.
Loving, respectful criticism is always necessary, not just for the Church as an institution, but also for the Church as individuals. Perhaps the word "instruction" would serve us better than the word "criticism" though. And true heresy absolutely needs to be pointed out and addressed if possible. But when I take my own anecdotal experiences (particularly negative ones) and combine them with a few scattered statistics from George Barna or some other source of undeciphered information to use as a weapon to attack and condemn and make fun of the Church, it seems to me that I am making a fearful mistake.
The Church is the Body of Christ. It IS the Body of Christ.
5. Rong
- 08/12/2010 1:41 pm CDT
Late to the party, but I'm with Bobbi.
I've been going to the same church since 1987. My friends are at this church, met my wife at this church, raised my kids at this church. I've referred to the people of this church more than once as being my "other" family and as dysfunctional as they can be I love them as much as my blood family. Of course when I tell them that I have to add in because they've been willing to put up with this dysfunctional person for all these years.
I can't live without my church any more than I could live without my family.
You may not like the "institution" but don't disrespect my family.
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One thing to note: This post is not directed at those who are out there doing the heavy lifting of trying, graciously and in balance, to transform the church into a body that reflects more Christ's intention for the church. I stand foursquare with them.