Doing Church

Church is a verb.

Yes, yes...I know. Church is also a building, a denomination, the clergy and a body of believers. Church has many definitions but there is one that I never knew existed. A definition that encompasses a community of believers in action, living life together.

Church is more than going to a building every Sunday, sitting down, standing up to sing, bowing your head during prayer and thinking about the football game that is coming on later and listening to a preacher man drone on about hell, fire and brimstone.

Church is about giving yourself freely to your Church family and the community that you live in. It is about washing each other's feet, giving up the shirt on your back, praying with fellow believers and making things happen to help your fellow-man.

Most of all church is about sharing the Gospel - the death, burial and resurrection of Christ and what that means for humankind.

Church is about family. Church is about love. Church is about Christ.

This past Sunday at church was a little different from the normal service we have. It was a night of worship, scripture and prayer. The Church was challenged to get out of their seat and pray for their neighbor. The service portrayed, to me, what Church is supposed to be.

We get so caught up in "playing the role" each Sunday. You know, the one where we plaster on a fake smile and tell everyone: "I'm doing fine!" When really, you feel as if your life is falling apart. A beautiful thing about Church is that you don't have to be okay all the time. You can come broken, scarred and upset. After all, Christ did say: "Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest." Matthew 11:28.

It's real. It's encouraging. It's living life with a community.