What is Church to you?

I am reading this interesting, if not a bit "over the top" article at Bruderhof about a post-modern poetic waxing about what "true Church" is supposed to be. The article takes the noun of church and looks at it like a verb. Look at this point-

"Church is not about what gets proclaimed by a preacher or taught by an instructor. It’s not just songs, sacraments and ceremonies. The church is what gets lived out in daily life by a people who bind themselves together to live for God’s kingdom of unity, justice and peace."

It is hard to argue with this and its very thoughtful, however, much of the article is about why the modern church sucks though- and that is a shame (as well as being a bit judgmental- the author assumes his experiences of church are what everyone else experiences). I am a bit of a church-nerd. I love going to church as well as living as the church- I also love my experience with God as inspired through the Holy Spirit telling others about the life-changing experience of following Jesus.

My church life is about an inclusive love that allows as many people to come to the table of the Spirit as possible- where I serve, we'd rather 'err on the side of inclusion, than err on the side of exclusion' and we have a whole lot of Christians who weren't allowed to fellowship, worship, or practice their faith in the communities of faith they were raised in. We are a cornacopia of wackiness: social workers, teachers, intellectuals, spiritual humanists, doubters, lovers, burnt out but still aflame, hopeful yet realistic- in our church, we show our warts as well as live out our faith. We also have those kind of people that others tend to "roll their eyes" to when talking with a person that challenges their notions of sanity, optimism, or weirdness. It is a wonderful place for sure- but I doubt that every visitor would feel comfortable (although everyone is welcomed). We also tend to attract the kind of people like the author of this article- they come hating church but being invited by a friend, they thought they'd give it "one more shot". And in our congregation- they find a new "church" home.

I love the church where I am called to serve- both as a noun and a verb. It is one heck of a place!