Living Together
I have had this ongoing thought about being the church that keeps hounding me. I am going to try to write about it today just to try to begin to formulate this vision or idea that continues to hang there in my mind and work on my. Maybe writing about it will help to bring it more into the light and you can tell me what you think.
It is the idea or understanding of the church as people doing life together.
Often time our understanding of being the church is when we do "churchy" stuff. If we are doing things like Bible studies, or Sunday school, or worship, or mission work it is in those moments that we are being the church. We go to church like church is something that we go to. This then implies that church is something that we leave or go away from. What this leads to is compartmentalizing our lives into church stuff and non-church stuff. Secular and spiritual.
This nagging thought is about de-compartmentalizing. This nagging thought is about making all of life spiritual. It is about removing labels that say this is church and this isn't. It is about becoming the church rather than going to church. It is about being a community that is radically committed to Christ and his teaching and irrationally devoted to one another. It is about loving like crazy. It is the thought that we would do life together and share our lives with each other.
This thought is a community of people that does everything together. They laugh together, cry together, pray together, worship together, serve one another, and enjoy one another.
Do you you have a community of people that you do life with? Do you have a group of people that you get together with to have fun, eat, laugh, and worship with? Do you have a group of people that you get together with to play, relax, celebrate and serve with? Do you have a group of people that you hang out with and find support and encouragement?
Play and pray. Connect with others and connect with God. Serve and be served. Everything is Spiritual. Everything we do, wherever we are, whatever we do Christ is at the center of it. Christ is with us.
A small group might be a sports team, or a group that likes to watch movies or a TV show together. Maybe they enjoy eating exotic foods. It might be a group that gets together around a common interest. Around something that they enjoy doing and God is invited to be a part. We do the things that we love doing, the things that make up our lives, with one another and with God. For one another and for God. Being the church not doing church or going to church.
Life together. Life with God. Sharing our lives, the highs the lows--everything with God and with one another.
This is just the tip of the iceberg that is this nagging thought. I am sure that there will be more. It is about our whole lives. It is about living in community. It is Acts 2 stuff. It is real stuff. It is incarnational. (Christ being made real in our world.) It is more than can be described in this post. It is about love for God and love for one another.
Love today.
In Christ's love and mine,
Doug
It is the idea or understanding of the church as people doing life together.
Often time our understanding of being the church is when we do "churchy" stuff. If we are doing things like Bible studies, or Sunday school, or worship, or mission work it is in those moments that we are being the church. We go to church like church is something that we go to. This then implies that church is something that we leave or go away from. What this leads to is compartmentalizing our lives into church stuff and non-church stuff. Secular and spiritual.
This nagging thought is about de-compartmentalizing. This nagging thought is about making all of life spiritual. It is about removing labels that say this is church and this isn't. It is about becoming the church rather than going to church. It is about being a community that is radically committed to Christ and his teaching and irrationally devoted to one another. It is about loving like crazy. It is the thought that we would do life together and share our lives with each other.
This thought is a community of people that does everything together. They laugh together, cry together, pray together, worship together, serve one another, and enjoy one another.
Do you you have a community of people that you do life with? Do you have a group of people that you get together with to have fun, eat, laugh, and worship with? Do you have a group of people that you get together with to play, relax, celebrate and serve with? Do you have a group of people that you hang out with and find support and encouragement?
Play and pray. Connect with others and connect with God. Serve and be served. Everything is Spiritual. Everything we do, wherever we are, whatever we do Christ is at the center of it. Christ is with us.
A small group might be a sports team, or a group that likes to watch movies or a TV show together. Maybe they enjoy eating exotic foods. It might be a group that gets together around a common interest. Around something that they enjoy doing and God is invited to be a part. We do the things that we love doing, the things that make up our lives, with one another and with God. For one another and for God. Being the church not doing church or going to church.
Life together. Life with God. Sharing our lives, the highs the lows--everything with God and with one another.
This is just the tip of the iceberg that is this nagging thought. I am sure that there will be more. It is about our whole lives. It is about living in community. It is Acts 2 stuff. It is real stuff. It is incarnational. (Christ being made real in our world.) It is more than can be described in this post. It is about love for God and love for one another.
Love today.
In Christ's love and mine,
Doug
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