Thankful for the body of Christ I am a part of

There are a lot of things going on in my life right now, but today, I just wanted to write a responce to an article that I read online. Here is the link to the article:

http://www.leadingsmart.com/leadingsmart/2009/06/hey-churchtheyre-just-not-that-into-you.html

When I first read this, my initial thought was "That's not how church is" But then I stopped and smiled and realized AGAIN, how incredibly blessed I am to be a part of the body of believers I call my church family. Because for most of my life, that WAS how church was, that is how church is to so many. Three weeks ago, our pastor preached a sermon on law and grace, and talked about this: "the list" that keeps Christians feeling like they constantly have to be striving, not measuring up, not succeeding, and how that is not what Christ had in mind for us. We should be serving, we should be loving and involved, but as an outpouring and result of love for the Lord, not fear of not living up to standards put in place by fallible humans.

Part of what drew us to our church 6 years ago was the atmosphere of love, which we had experienced before, but only as a draw to get us to sign up for "the list". What keeps us drawn to our church family was seeing for the first time that this love was genuine. We were loved just as much if we didn't make it to Wednesday night service, or sign up to work in Awana, or head up a hospitality group. There was no condemnation, there was no guilt, there was no looking down at us. We realized that the pastor meant it when he talked about personal accountability to the Holy Spirit (instead of him trying to fill that role as so many pastors we had known tried to do). He preaches unabashedly straight Scripture, not Scripture with our denominational or cultural traditions thrown in.

What this translates into is our praying for other churches in the community, instead of comparing ourselves to them. It means we pray, and trust the Lord, and watch the building fund grow exponentially before our eyes, knowing that it was the Lord Who grew it, not the guilt induced offerings of a congregation made to feel that giving=sanctification, and now we are about to have our building dedication, debt-free every step of the way.

It means there are no critical looks if someones dress doesn't meet "church" standards of modesty or fashion- we are encouraged to love as Jesus loved us, and we know that what's in the heart is what matters. There is just not much focus on the outward appearance, although if you were to stop and take stock, you would see "modestly" dressed people, some with head coverings, some in jeans, some in expensive outfits. I was reminded again this last week how peculiar our church is in our outlook. I went to visit a friend and our kids went to the little daycamp at her church next door. We were sitting talking to the pastor and his wife. My friend and the pastor's wife were discussing clothes they were going to wear at camp the next week- this was obviously an important topic that they talked about a lot. Then the pastor came over and tugged at his wife's past knee length shorts and said something to the effect of "watch it, your knees were showing." Until that moment in the day, I had only thought about my clothing when I put it on in the morning and subconsciously decided it was modest and looked fine. As soon as I assimilated the conversation going on around me, a flood of memories came back to me- of being in church and Christian college atmospheres where the hem of your skirt and the cut of your shirt determined how "holy" you were and you constantly felt either guilty for not measuring up, or prideful if you were beyond the standard.

And I think that mindset is what is induced when you hold "the list" as equal with Scripture- either you feel guilty that you are not able to meet the requirements of attendence and service, or you feel a false sense of accomplishment and judgmental pride, comparing yourself with others who haven't checked off as many boxes as you have. There is no serving with love, because you are not serving the person of Christ- you are serving an artificial god, that can never really be appeased, because even if you kill yourself trying to fulfill every part of a list of things that will make you a "good Christian", you will eventually fail and feel guilty. Truly serving Christ means learning from Scripture and listening to the Holy Spirit, and letting Him lead you into the service He lays on your heart. Unfortunately, serving Christ and serving "the church" (by this, I mean the leadership and fundamentals of many denominations, not the body of Christ, as 'the church' should mean) are not always the same in our culture and society. I know too many churches, too many believers whose attention to the Holy Spirit within them and the Scripture they hold in their hands is being obscured by the demands of the church leadership they are under. They are being taught that church attendence=spirituality, and how you dress=sanctification, adherence to the guidelines=holiness.

It seems that church leadership is turning into a priesthood, holding the keys to absolution, and the power of guilt and condemnation. They are trying to lead through inducing fear and guilt, instead of what Christ intended- the individual priesthood of the believer, which leads to a desire to serve out of love for the Lord and fellow believers. I see our church as proof that you can accomplish all the objectives of "the list" (church attendence, service, accountabilty) by letting the Lord lead, by preaching Scripture and adherance to it, by focusing on love and humility, and not on pride or guilt. The list should not be the objective, it should be the natural result of the fruit of the living in the Spirit by letting him lead, and it won't always look like what you have in mind. The Lord did not redeem us to make us robots, my service to the Lord will not look like yours.

I think it's a subtle shift in mentality that makes the difference here, and you can see the results of it. On the "list" side, the focus in on outward adherance to things- your attendance, your dress, your involvement. On the other side, it's the condition of your heart, your motives, and a peace that comes from knowing that you are accountable to the Lord, and He is Who you are living and serving to please, in fellowship with those of like minded faith.