Day 9

"What's a Body to Do"- by Pam Braman

"My body lets me know I'm getting older. Injuries take longer to heal. Weight goes on faster. My knees creak when I get up form kneeling. So why don't I get rid of my body? Well, it's the only body I have. If it get rid of it, I die.

Then why do people say they can walk with God and be spiritually healthy without the church?

"Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it" (1 Corinthians 12:27). God has determined that we, the church, are to be the physical demonstration of Jesus to this world, but this body of Christ often seems to be like my body: injured, weak, and creaking.

Many conclude it's time to abandon the body and do spiritual life on their own, but how is it possible to be in Christ while rejecting His body? Some say as long as they follow Jesus they re part of the body of Christ, regardless of whether they belong to a local church. But 1 Corinthians isn't written to everybody. It's written to "the church of God in Corinth" (1 Corinthians 1:2), a local church.

"God has placed in the church first of all apostles, second prophets, third teachers," according to 1 Corinthians 12:28, which implies a structure. the passage seems to suggest that belonging to the body of Christ is belonging to the organized church. How can you play your part in the body of Christ (as we are called to do) if you remove yourself from any formal connection to other body parts? A foot can't do it's own thing and succeed (1 Corinthians 12:15).

I believe many people live as phantom limbs. they are convinced they are part of the body, but they have amputated themselves. Be part of the body, and be prepared for a workout. The body needs to be in shape for the mission of saving others' lives."

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So as you recall from a few posts ago, this section of 1 Corinthians was speaking to me, especially in regards to "gifts". Then a couple days after that, I picked up my denominations monthly magazine, "Light and Life" and read this article. The emphasis of the articles this month was on membership and why it's important to belong to a local church as a body of believers. This particular article makes sense to me. And it asks questions that I've been hearing people wrestle with for some time. Does church (as an organized community) matter?

I know there's tons of debate on the "how" church is done- formal gatherings, small intimate gatherings, home churches, service oriented, programs (men's, women's, kid's, youth, seniors, singles, college, single but not that single, married, young married, old married, married with kids, married with no kids, young married with no kids, young but not newly married with no kids, singles with kids, teenage moms with kids, old married with some kids, empty-nesters, almost empty-nesters, etc . . .) You get the picture. It gets a little ridiculous! It's not that I don't think those questions are important, b/c being married to a pastor, I know they very much are, but it seems that people spend more time asking about which method is right or wrong, and which ones to use then criticize all the other options, than actually putting faith into practice and focusing on the mission of loving God and loving others.

By doing this, we get really good at loving our selves. This comes in the questions of "what is the church going to do for me?" "Why didn't they sing the songs I like during worship?" "How dare you question how I'm running this program, at least I showed up." "They keep it too hot in here." "They keep it too cold in here." "Why do we have to learn these hymns?" "Can't you just let us die singing hymns?" Questions like these show that the focus is entirely too much on ourselves. And because we do it or hear others do it so much, it becomes a learned and patterned behavior. I recently read someone discussing how you'd go about talking about "church shopping" to the early church. They wouldn't even understand the concept, but it's so ridiculously prevalent in our culture today, that we don't think twice about it.

Our culture of consumerism has entrenched itself into the church so tightly, we don't even notice it anymore. Our culture, as a whole, doesn't value anymore. I was going to put a specific thing in after I wrote "value", but honestly, you can choose your own adventure on that one. No wait, in a culture of psychology and self-help, we have learned to value ourselves very well. Perhaps too well. We really don't know what community means anymore. We don't do authentic well. We long to be known, just as long as you don't see any weaknesses. We bolt as soon as someone offends us. God forbid people care about our souls enough to point out sin that is destroying us. We create ridiculous, inappropriate, and unattainable standards for our pastors and leaders and then scrutinize their every move under a microscope so we can pounce and cry "fowl" if ever they err or even differ from our standard and opinion, all because we really value our rights and feel totally justified to sling them around as we feel fit. We don't place ourselves under God-given authority, and instead of dealing with sin, we run . . . for years . . . and what's worse, we pass it on to our kids. So, we amputate ourselves, whether from a specific community or from the community as a whole, and we fool ourselves into believing we're part of something that we really want no part of. And like phantom limbs, we experience excruciating pain, distortion, and the feeling of not knowing what's real and what's not.

Now before you start writing comments, there are very valid reasons to leave a church. There are a lot of unhealthy, abusive churches out there that need an influx of help and healing. People have been mortally wounded by the church, and it's tragic. But that's not the group I'm talking about here. I also know these are huge generalizations, and many many Christians commit to their church community, and place themselves in accountability relationships, and dive-in head first in belonging to a body of believers greater than themselves; even when they get hurt, even when they're "stuff" is called out", even when it would be easier to walk away. These are people who value what Jesus came to do-- heal, set free, have faith, love, justify, live out righteousness, bring peace. And they understand that He had a purpose in leaving His church to a broken, messed up, and needy people. They understand that the church isn't perfect in and of itself. It's only made perfect through Him. And they understand that He loves it, desperately! There's a reason the image of Christ being the groom and the church being His bride is in the Bible. It's a big freakin' deal!! And we should be doing pre-marital counseling, working out so we look good, and sending out invitations to the wedding instead of signing pre-nups, doing shot-gun weddings, and feeling "ho hum" about divorce rates. Let's steward this gift of church well and stop this cycle of consumerism among the body of believers!