"Belief...belief shifts. People start out believing in the God and end up believing in the structure." (Pratchett)
"It's a matter of what's real. There are lots of ways the church can celebrate its life together. At the moment, you only seem to grasp one of them. Seeing the church as a reality instead of an activity will allow you to celebrate the church however she expresses herself around you." (Jacobson/Coleman)
Two different books, belief systems, writing styles and two vastly different stories, but somehow; they seem to intertwine many of the same messages. In Terry Pratchett's fantasy (Small Gods) Disc World, the Great God, Om, now a small turtle, has found only but one true believer among the Omnian church. In Wayne Jacobson's Californian city of Kingston (So You Don't Want To Go To Church Anymore?), the mysterious John has landed upon a pastor who is frustrated and disillusioned by the very church he helped create. The same conclusion has been drawn, the structure, the system- by hands of mankind has become a valley of unsatisfying hope- a full life feeling unattainable. "It's a matter of what's real. There are lots of ways the church can celebrate its life together. At the moment, you only seem to grasp one of them. Seeing the church as a reality instead of an activity will allow you to celebrate the church however she expresses herself around you." (Jacobson/Coleman)
My friends: I am here to say this~ the Church does not have the answers. What's more: Christians do not have the answers.
The sing-song club of "knowing something you don't know" is a farse and there is life available to all outside what the Christian crowd calls "right." The structure built by man has often trapped God in box. The fact is, there is no box, there is no limit to the Super-power "out there." Questions and concerns, by the way, are allowed.
No, this is not to say that people who involve themselves in the structure are bad or wrong. But it IS to say, that it is not what provides full satisfaction. It only takes 2 or 3, it only takes people doing life together- and if that takes place outside a routine setting, then that is and will be-- most beautiful of all.
It's true that what I have been told all my life I should or should not be doing, I am not, and what I've been defined by (or told that I ought to be identified with)- from those in an American church and out is not how I define myself. But nor is it the way He defines me. I am going beyond telling you the, "I'm fine" answer. I am beyond acknowledging any guilt for missing a Sunday or a Wednesday. I am free to live life- as I have been designed to live. I am completely drawn and compelled, by choice, to seek out why the Creator of the Universe chooses me. I am free to befriend all or any who cross my path and I hold no stones.
I do not find what I believe to be attached to politics. I do not find it necessary to exalt "being religious," for I am not flawless. If the truth be told: I am a totally unhinged human being, abandoned to a life of great passion and above all love.
And so, only this, for now, is true: that which is real- wants you so that you may know you're not alone. Your suffering will birth beauty. Your joy will be like an infectious disease. The structure is not a true representation of what is.
The answer is "out there."
anonymous said...
ReplyDeletei agree with almost all that you say (well written) except with the part about christians and the church do not have the answer..The truth is that the Christ is the answer.....He always has been and always will be.......The truth is that the church, in the way Christ meant for it to be also can be a big part of the answer........The problem is that the mondern day christian looks not to the truth of who Christ is they look to a system which they call the church......The system and all its programs and building and money and belonging systems and all or nothing thinking........The belief that God is who man decides He is continues to fail.......When we lay down our own ego's and our own agenda and allow Christ to be Christ in us, we will begin to show the world the answer to all of life......God is so much bigger and greater then we have allowed Him to be....God is about love and grace and truth and forgiveness......The scripture says love never fails.......This God who loves us showed us so much love and grace and forgiveness and it is our duty to show the world this love......We have Him living and breathing in each one of us..Each and everyone od us IS the church....We all need to stop going to church and become the church....Every day every where at every moment.....That is how we will truly spread the answer....Jesus Christ great job Ashley...........Me
dear "me"- aka- dad-
ReplyDeleteas i pointed out on the phone, i think you may have originally missed my point. the rest of the world is looking at christians and their church and saying "it's not enough"- "you don't have answers for me, my pain, or my frustration"...the thing is? they're right.
the 4 wall building, 3 steps to becoming "christian" aren't working and we're ultimately showing people nothing, except a performance and inviting them to what becomes a God cliq
...the most i can do is live what i believe is real...and that is God and a relationship with my creator, not the american church, not christian- just living as i am and doing life together with those around me.
don't know if my words are as eloquent here, but you know what i'm getting at.