So a friend of mine whom I have known for many years visited my wife and I a while ago. Our relationship has been on for a season off for a season and a spattering in between. I don’t know if I would be considered a good friend or just a friend. I am not sure I can determine where he (and her) are as far as my friends. I am not sure if they are just friends or good friends. Does it matter?
What I am sure of is that they are steel upon steel. The times of togetherness are challenging, encouraging, sometimes uncomfortable but always, always, always times I remember and reflect up during and after the times together. So we visited not too long ago and they told me what books they were reading and I wrote down the titles with the intent to in fact read the same books. Well time being what it is, scarce, I finally got around to it and wow is the first thing that comes to mind.
I have been a born again believer of Christ since my 11th grade in high school. That is a phrase that should mean little as it represents what most folks claim as normal. All too often I claimed to be Christian and all too rarely was that “title” a personal experience of being a disciple of Christ. I have not always had the kind of intimate relationship with Christ the person during my following 29 years. I remember the passion, the burning desire to tell the world that a personal faith in the saving grace of God is a real thing. I remember the joy of being real, honest, and open with a few like minded believers. I remember the freedom of being secure to say “I am a mess”. But it has not been a lifestyle that has been instilled upon me much less my family. Read on and you will see why.
I have also spent many years in the “church”. And after years of being in the “church” I find the church is not the body of Christ I knew in my youth or during my times of relationship with truly like minded believers. My time in the church is very “institutional” And therein lays the problem. Church is not an institution it is a relation. To be a disciple of Christ is to be in relation with Christ. To be the Church that Christ speaks of in his word is to be in relationship with Christ. Church is not a building or an institution it is a relationship of people seeking to be Disciples of Christ first and foremost. It is not the program, the worship time, the meeting of the “rules” it is building a relationship with Christ and sharing that with others.
A few of the books that my friends recommended are thought provoking to say the least. They have struck at a chord that has not been resonated in many years. So much so that it is likely time to get out of my “comfort zone” to do what the “institutions” discourages. It is to search for a body of believers seeking to be Disciples of Christ. Not followers of a program, a routine, or a tradition. To have the passion to share with others this Christ who meets us where we are at in all out yuck. To be transparent so other can see the Christ I see. The Christ who seeks to be so real in our lives that we are not ashamed to share him with others the relationship we have with him. To be willing to get out of our comfort zone and be real with our neighbor instead of being false and phony with the person sharing a pew with us in the “institution” and ignoring our neighbor on the street.
If you have read this and care to know the titles ask and I will gladly share but dont ask if your not willing to look upon the church in a different way.
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