Friday, February 23, 2007

God's House

My grandpa used to tell the story about Enoch, the man who never died. He used to say that Enoch walked with God every evening. One night they walked and walked and walked. They got so far from home, Enoch knew he couldn't make it back.

"That's okay," God said. "You can just come on to my house."

And he did.

I heard an idea tonight that tickled something inside my brain. It's probably not a new idea to many of you, but it was stated in way I'd never heard before.

We as a church tend to treat our congregation like our family home. We're the ones who know where everything goes. We hold the keys to the house. We turn the heaters on in the morning and the lights off at night. We're comfortable in our little home together, but visitors have a hard time feeling like part of the family because they're just... visitors.

What if we decided to face the truth that church is not at our house, it's at God's. It's a new concept to me. What does church look like if we're all strangers together, if no one is proprietor of the way things should be?

It could be a horrible mess.

Or it could be the beginning of a beautiful friendship.

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