On Church

I started thinking about Mark's questions in his post the other day. So here are my thoughts on church and worship(half-formed and dimwitted perhaps):

Somehow in our culture there has been a profound shift in the way we view church. We often see it as a place we go. Church has become identified with a location and an experience. For many in our culture, church is nothing more than a worship service. I don't think this is a Biblical model.

The church should instead be seen as something we are a part of. It is us. We are the church. The building isn't the church, the service isn't the church, we shouldn't "go to church". In the Biblical model as I see it, the church is the Body of Christ, it is the community of Christ followers. When we see church this way I think, worship and worship style become a lot less of a problem. We gather together as a Body to worship corporately, but that is not the full extent of our involvement in the Body. We gather together in each other's homes, at Starbucks, at work, in the park...in everything we are the church. It is in this sense that Christ becomes our identity.

It is through obedience in this that we truly worship God. Jesus didn't laud the sheep and blast the goats for their synagogue attendance. He applauded and chided them for their attitude towards the downtrodden and oppressed. He called us to seek the will of God in everything, not just how many guitars are appropriate on Sunday morning. If we truly seek community in Christ, and seek his will in everything, then we see the divisions within the church faling away, and Sunday morning fading to an important, but not central event in our lives.

If we see church this way I think that denomination becomes less important. There are two senses in which the body of Christ is a community. The first, essential for success in the other, is local. I am a part of a certain body of believers. We gather together on Sundays and during the week and form a small tight-knit community with overlapping bonds that hold us together. The worship service and nonessential theology of our church is a reflection of our own unique backgrouds, callings and relationships.

The second, also very important, is global. In this manner I am linked to every Christian in the world. It is important to remember this and to reach out in love to other Christians. But it is important to remember that we don't worship corporately or discuss theology with all of them. Every part of the Body has its own mix of style and substance. But that is not a concern of mine. I am not called to conform hem to my image, I am called to love and live in brotherly harmony.

That said I think that there are a few basics--essential philosophy. I personally think the Nicene creed is the best explanation of what is essential to the Christian faith. Beyond that, I think there is a wide degree of latitude in what is Christian. This is something I learned from the Eastern Orthodox Church.

To sum up I think that worrying about denomination is less important than we often think, and that nondenominational is a positive movement. As long as it is accompanied by a strong commitment to community and a reaching out to the global chruch, it is a recognition that denomination is a relic of a word.