The Wanderer for Wonderwhat (9)

(Parts 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17)

Part of the Solution
“Start a home group? You mean just start a Bible study out of nowhere? Who would be coming to it?” The Wanderer’s wife inquired.
“I don’t know yet. That’s the crazy part of it, isn’t it?” The Wanderer admitted.
“But, I guess if God’s in this, those kinds of details would work themselves out.” She said, careful not to deflate his excitement.
“Well, yeah, they would.”
“This is exciting!” said the Wanderer’s wife.

This was perplexing to the Wanderer. He thought for sure he’d have to explain himself more than this. Did she really get what he was proposing? He had imagined that she’d call him crazy, a dreamer.
“I’m talking about, you know, starting what would essentially be our version of church.” He looked at her earnestly, making sure she understood.
She smiled at him. “I’m not retarded dear. You’ve been talking about this incessantly for months on end. Of course I understand, and I’m with you.” She kissed him on the cheek.
It had been amazingly simple to convince his wife, brother and sister-in-law to go out on this limb on his dare. But he couldn’t deny that there was a “rightness” to it all. His fear of becoming an embittered objector to church had only one solution. “You can either sit around and complain about how things are, or you can offer yourself as an instrument of change.” He had thought.
And now the change was coming.
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“Can I read something to you?” The Wanderer asked his wife.
“Sure, what is it?” she said, tying a bowknot on their son’s shoe. When she was done, he scampered off her lap and out the door. “Tell your brother and sisters that dinner will be done soon!” she shouted after him.
“Now…what is it you want to read?” she said, finally looking his way.
“Remember how Luther nailed the 95 Thesis to the church door in Whittenburg?”
“Yes?”
“Well…I have my own…I don’t know, thesis, manifesto, whatever!” he said excitedly.
“Whatcha’ going to nail it to?”
“I was thinking of nailing it to a window somewhere, since a door’s already been done. Are you going to listen to this or not?”
“Go ahead.” She said, laughing.
“It’s called: Why I Hate Church”
“Hmmm, don’t beat around the bush so much, tell us what you really think.” She said, still laughing.
“Come on, I’m serious here.” He said, laughing with her.
“Ok, I’m ready now, lets hear it.”
…….
Why I Hate Church
Ever wonder why you come to church?
Ever wonder where the choir arrangements are described in the Bible?
Ever wonder why God wants you to sit in unspeakable boredom as you endure irrelevant rituals in order to please Him?
Ever wonder where the passage on the dress code for Sunday mornings is in the Bible?
Ever wonder what makes the “pulpit” holy, or the front of the church building “holy ground”?
Ever wonder why Christianity seems like a spectator sport?
Ever wonder if this thing could carry on nicely without you?
Ever notice that for the most part, it carries on nicely without Jesus?

We can trace our problems all the way back to our initial definition of the term. We speak the language of “church”. But what is church? These are the things we begin with:

1) The word “church”, as such, is not found in the New Testament anywhere. The word “church” comes from the root word “kuriakon” in the Greek, transliterated to “circe” in old English. The word kuriakon means “a building set aside for the Lord’s use”. The word church, which comes from the word kuriakon has come to encompass all the various aspects of the common assembly, yet it has no Scriptural support, is usually still referring to a building and has a depersonalizing effect.

2) The word “ekklesia” is the term used in Scripture to describe the common assembly. It is derived from “ek” (out) and “kaleo” (to call). It is a common Greek term to describe people called out from their homes to a gathering place for the discussion of public business….

….The manifesto went on and on like that, using verbose language to sound important and laboring over obvious conclusions. But the Wanderer loved it. For the first time, he had a sense of clarity in what he was looking for, and where he was now headed. For him, it was a storyboard that he could work from, a high ground from which he could view the surrounding landscape.

This was the ideal. It was simple, and he kept reducing it down, finding the rudimentary elements. Church was supposed to be a hangout. A club, so to speak. An exclusive club that anyone could visit or join. Church was supposed to be a place where people who love Jesus could hang out together. And what were they supposed to do while they hang out together? Support and encourage each other, and be equipped to live out Jesus in their daily lives.

That was it.

Since the Bible didn’t describe a church meeting, then anything that worked toward the basic goals of hanging out, loving Jesus, caring for each other, and demonstrating Jesus could be included in a meeting. On the other hand, anything that didn’t work toward those goals would be jettisoned without hesitation. Stuff done just to be doing stuff wouldn’t be tolerated. Real needs would find real solutions. If there were no needs being met by any given activity of the church, they would abandon it without regret.
This was the ideal. The big question on the Wanderer’s mind was: would it work? Could it stay simple? Was the juggernaught of Western Christianity too powerful for anyone to resist moving in its flow?

The Wanderer thought about his dream of the machine and smiled to himself. “Time will tell.” He thought.