Three Looks At Church
Darryl over at Dash House has had several really insightful posts this past week on the nature of the church. Pardon me while I cut and paste for you to get the feel for them.

First was a quote from Eugene Peterson's Christ Plays in Ten Thousand Places: A Conversation in Spiritual Theology:

...the Christian life is not about us; it is about God. Christian spirituality is not a life-project for becoming a better person, it is not about developing a so-called "deeper life." We are in on it, to be sure. But we are not the subject. Nor are we the action...

The great weakness of North American spirituality is that it is all about us: fulfilling our potential, getting in on the blessings of God, expanding our influence, finding our gifts, getting a handle on principles by which we can get an edge over the competition. And the more there is of us, the less there is of God.

Then came another post from N. T. Wright's Simply Christian : Why Christianity Makes Sense.

According to the early Christians, the church doesn't exist in order to provide a place where people can pursue their private spiritual agendas and develop their own spiritual potential. Nor does it exist in order to provide a safe haven in which people can hide from the wicked world and ensure that they themselves arrive safely at an otherworldly destination...The purpose is clearly stated in various places in the New Testament: that through the church God will announce to the wider world that he is indeed its wise, loving, and just creator: that through Jesus he has defeated the powers that corrupt and enslave it; and that by his Spirit he is at work to heal and renew it.

Then, third was a post with a quote from Mark Riddle:

Is it any wonder it's easy for us to lose touch with the gospel when we can't even identify what it means to take up a cross?

Christ didn't die so we could have worship services that meet our needs.

Christ didn't die so we could be treated with kid gloves like a fickle consumer on sunday mornings.

Christ didn't die so we could get something out of bible study or small group.

Christ didn't die so the church could be active and busy.

The central theme for far too many churches seems to be comfort and customer satisfaction.

The central theme for Christianity is suffering, the executioner's cross, the blood spilled and body broken of Eucharist, baptism's metaphor of death burial and resurrection.

All this came for me on top of a conversation with a pastor friend as we tried to discern movement and the Spirit's leading in what a church is supposed to be and how church is supposed to be lived. Darryl has certainly laid out three very compelling understandings that are meant to shake us in our comfortable lethargy and uncomfortable "reasons" for doing what we do.

These are strange and challenging and interesting and uncertain times for the institution of the church as it seeks to be The Church- the Body and Bride of Christ.

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In Our Prayers
Darryl Dash's Father passed away early Sunday morning. May our loving and grace-filled God fill Darryl and his family in these days.