What do you mean by 'Church?'

I did not attend a church service today. I listened to a podcast from Rob Bell. There are a couple of points I wish to share with you from the sermon.

"What do you mean by 'Church?'" he asks. Do you mean your own personal sliver of an experience? Or do you mean violent wind, tongues of fire, intoxication with the divine? He says we should be left with more questions than answers once we encounter the divine.

How, in any way, does my life even show that it is transformed? Most of the time, I'm just rushing around trying to get my schoolwork done while distracting myself from any real concerns about life and the world through facebook. I'm so concerned about what others think of me, so I'm reluctant to truly share my opinions unless I'm comfortable with that person. How is hiding away behind a cross necklace truly representative of Christ? How can I make sure that what I believe plays out in my everyday life?

I want the church I attend to be a communal experience. A place to help me grow in my faith. A community. A place where I can give to help those in my community. I've mostly been attending Cornerstone Church since I last posted on here. This provides an interesting problem. Since Cornerstone is a 30 minute drive from my house, it becomes very easy for me to simply skip out on the community aspect I so greatly desire. I desire it and fear it. To know and be known is one of the most thrilling yet scary things a person can do. Because Cornerstone is far away I can say that I don't have time. I like Cornerstone because Francis Chan's sermons help me see God. I can identify with the music. It is a diverse church, full of different ages and ethnicities. But is this simply a tiny sliver of my experience?

But tomorrow doesn't have to be the same as yesterday.

I've been considering, once more, to go looking for a church closer to my house, as a way to discover community. I just hope I might find one that puts God before their families in this supposed suburban paradise. I have three picked out for future adventures: St. Stephen's Episcopal, Royal Oaks Four Square, and Living Hope Evangelical.


On a side note, Rob Bell mentions at the beginning of the podcast that we mean to recapture the importance of the sermon and that the sermon really stems from what he calls an "ancient primal art form, it's the original guerrilla theatre." I appreciated what he said on the subject because I recently had a debate with a friend about whether a pastor should communicate emotions and get caught up in the message he brings to the people. My friend said it was a bad means (emotional communication) even if the end result is good (communicating the Gospel). I said that getting caught up in something isn't a bad means at all, it can help express the point better and help people connect with the message. I think Rob Bell would agree with me in that sermons should be part of the living breathing word that God gives us to spread his love. The poetry of prophets. Sermons do not need to be games of logic. Logic plays an important role, but is not the be all and end all.