The Doors are Closed
I've been a Christian for a long time and I've been in church since I was in the womb. Church life and my life have been intertwined for as long as I've known myself. About a year or so ago my perspective started to shift. Though I still go to church weekly and partake in its activities, my priority has been less on being engaged with my church's activities and more on being the church, being Christ's hands and feet on a daily basis.
I think the church has a good challenge on its hands right now. I understand the panic of some when church doors were closed because that would have been me a while ago. But now, like in the story of Mary and Martha, we get to choose the better thing (Luke 10:42). And I think the better thing is being the church more than being in the church building. Of course these two are woven together, but we also know that we can also do one without the other. The mission of Christ's church goes beyond the physical building. And now that they are stripped away, we're forced to look at what's left, which is the heart of our ministries.
I challenge you as I have been challenged myself to take a look at yourself. The church's doors have been closed but the Church is very much alive and active. So what are you doing to be Christ's hands and feet in a time where the world has been turned upside down? What are you doing to bring hope to our hopeless world and good news to a lost generation?
PS - Some Christians will be VERY uncomfortable on Good Friday and Easter over the fact that they will not be attending church and their lifelong tradition will be broken. But I believe that this could be a very impactful Easter for us if we truly take time to reflect on why God sent his son to die on that Good Friday. Dare I say it was not for us to get comfortable in our congregations and in the different ministries we love so much. It was so that the world might be saved and guess who has to reach that world (the prostitute, drug dealer, promiscuous teenager, criminal, murderer, drug addict, vagrant)?... the CHURCH.
"Christ has no body now but yours. No hands, no feet on earth but yours. Yours are the eyes through which he looks compassion on this world. Yours are the feet with which he walks to do good. Yours are the hands through which he blesses all the world. Yours are the hands, yours are the feet, yours are the eyes, you are his body. Christ has no body now on earth but yours." - Teresa of Avila
I think the church has a good challenge on its hands right now. I understand the panic of some when church doors were closed because that would have been me a while ago. But now, like in the story of Mary and Martha, we get to choose the better thing (Luke 10:42). And I think the better thing is being the church more than being in the church building. Of course these two are woven together, but we also know that we can also do one without the other. The mission of Christ's church goes beyond the physical building. And now that they are stripped away, we're forced to look at what's left, which is the heart of our ministries.
I challenge you as I have been challenged myself to take a look at yourself. The church's doors have been closed but the Church is very much alive and active. So what are you doing to be Christ's hands and feet in a time where the world has been turned upside down? What are you doing to bring hope to our hopeless world and good news to a lost generation?
PS - Some Christians will be VERY uncomfortable on Good Friday and Easter over the fact that they will not be attending church and their lifelong tradition will be broken. But I believe that this could be a very impactful Easter for us if we truly take time to reflect on why God sent his son to die on that Good Friday. Dare I say it was not for us to get comfortable in our congregations and in the different ministries we love so much. It was so that the world might be saved and guess who has to reach that world (the prostitute, drug dealer, promiscuous teenager, criminal, murderer, drug addict, vagrant)?... the CHURCH.
"Christ has no body now but yours. No hands, no feet on earth but yours. Yours are the eyes through which he looks compassion on this world. Yours are the feet with which he walks to do good. Yours are the hands through which he blesses all the world. Yours are the hands, yours are the feet, yours are the eyes, you are his body. Christ has no body now on earth but yours." - Teresa of Avila
Agreed, this does emphasize and show us that the church isn't the building because now we can't meet in that physical location. Hopefully this time helps in reinforcing the real meaning of church and our mandate to...Go. Hopefully it helps to break the tradition that we get so comfortable in and shake us up.
ReplyDeleteYup. We need a reminder ever so often not to get comfortable. There is too much work to be done to be hiding out in churches.
DeleteThanks Kamille, this is real thought provoking work. You're God's instrument of good in these dark times.
ReplyDeleteThank you! 🙌🏾
DeleteThank you for providing words of comfort at this difficult time and for giving us a different insight of how we view our lives, church etc. I pray God will continue to use you as His instrument as you continue to touch the lives of others.
ReplyDeleteAmen! Thank you very much! 🙌🏾
DeleteA well balanced perspective. The church must understand its complete purpose. Rick Warren identified what he believed to be the five purposes of the church: fellowship, discipleship, worship, ministry, and evangelism. The church involves a corporate coming together but then a purposeful separation so that we can be salt and light in our world. Unfortunately, many persons have made the gathering primarily a social club rather than an equipping to do God's work beyond the meeting of the saints. God will require us to gather (the early church gathered in both small and large group settings), but then like that church, we must scatter to make disciples throughout our world.
ReplyDeleteLove this! So true!
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