The Body Pt. 1

Now all of you together are Christ’s body, and
each one of you is a separate and necessary part of it.~ The Apostle Paul

I’ve always heard that the church is Christ’s body.  And each week when everybody comes “to church” we are his body.  Its a no brainer when his “body” gathers for “church.”  Jesus is at the church building when the “church” is “at church.”  But what happens when everybody goes home?  Is the “body” dismembered?  Is it just a “spiritual” reality?  Is this why we are taught to bring outsiders “to church”- so they can see “the body” all together?  Is this really what Jesus had in mind when he gave up his body for the church?  And are we being his body just because we are all gathered in the same place for a worship service?  And what does it mean to be a member of a body?

Paul said we, all together, are Christ’s body.  Based on the language he is clearly saying that each community of faith is an expression of Christ’s physical presence in that area.  And yet, each local body has a deep connectedness to those all around the world.  But, from how the church functions in our culture, it appears that it is just a part-time reality.

In my experience, when the church (the people) gathers at church (the building), we usually lack the type of oneness that the Bible describes as crucial to being the body of Christ.  Our language betrays us.  We even describe our faith community as a place that we “attend”.  The church service is not designed at all in order for people to be together in community.  We tend to be passive spectators of a show  (much like the local school musical) that is produced and presented by very few people- seemingly for our benefit.  The proof is in how we describe a “successful” service- ‘It moved me,’ ‘it connected with me,’ I really liked _______.”  I’m pretty sure that the purpose of meeting together was in order that I becomes we, and then we become one, in order to be formed into a unified body in which Christ becomes present in some mysterious way that I just can’t explain (we’ll leave that up to the guys with advanced religious degrees).

So when we talk about reaching the emerging generations with the good news, it can’t just be about how much better the “service” we “attend” is.  It has to be much deeper than that.

I’ll finish my thoughts in part 2.  Your thoughts…

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