"As you See the Day drawing near"

Long time reader and commenter Nancy invited me to join the One Word at a Time Blog Carnival, which is being hosted this month by Bridget Chumbley. The word this month is "church." Okay, here goes:

I used to go to church. I went to church for many years. But somewhere along the line, for whatever reason, it began to seem like a meaningless gesture and only that. Sunday morning: go to church. Check.

Some friends of mine like to say, "Church is not a building," and, "Don't got to church; be the church." They have a point.

Given that point, here's my simple working definition: Church is a network of Christian relationships.

OK, so the relational network is woven of the shared experience of believers ("saints," to use the Apostle Paul's characteristic word) in a given place, working out their faith. As it happens, that last part turns out to be a difficult calling. Working out your faith. What does it look like in action. It looks like love. Love for people. Love for God.

Like I said, a difficult calling. More difficult than any of us would like to admit.

So, I stopped going to church, and started trying to be the church. Not that you won't find me at church any given Sunday, but in theory my "going" will be of a piece with my "being."

That's the plan, anyway. I can't say I've mastered it yet. Truth is, just as it was a struggle for me to live my faith when I operated in the old church-as-place mindset, it remains a struggle for me now with my church-as-relational-network mindset.

Aside:

Picture me with two little cartoon pixies on my shoulders. One is earnest and true, kind of a Disney pixie, and that one's saying, "Don't just go to church, be the church."

Yeah! That's what I'll do. Thanks, little Disney pixie!

But the other is this needling ironic Warner Bros. pixie (voice by Mel Blanc), and that one's saying, "How's that workin' out for you, bub?"

Ummm, okay, I guess.

Anyway, I'm writing this on a Sunday morning. In a little while I'll be going to church. They've got a Christmas thing going on today. Should be fun. Us saints getting together, having struggled with this loving God and loving people thing all week (don't try to tell me it's not a struggle for you), getting together to remind one another that God first loved us with an everlasting love, a love that he "worked out" to the full measure, you might say. And that his love is what makes our love more than a fond wish.

We have to remind ourselves of this a lot, we saints. We kind of lose touch. We get side-tracked. The dream, the dream of love, gets deferred. Faith ebbs away quietly, and suddenly we have forgotten about such high-minded notions as being the church, working out our faith, loving God and people.

I remember something in Hebrews about church. The author of Hebrews was writing to the local network of believers in that city, circa the middle of the first century. In chapter 10 the author urges the people in the Jerusalem network to never stop meeting together.

Something about "being the church," then, will have something to do with meeting together. And the reason they should not stop meeting together? Because "the Day" is approaching.

Cue the ominous music! The Day? My study Bible says he's talking about the day that Jesus comes back as the conqueror of all that had stood against the will of God. You know, his will that we, his children, should love him and love people to the full measure, forever. Here's the passage in question:

Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.

So, to paraphrase, the author is saying, You Christ-followers in Jerusalem, don't stop meeting together (don't forsake your network!), keep encouraging one another to faith and love (presumably the encouragement is needed because, well, faith and love is something we are not necessarily consistently good at), and do this because the great Day that we are all longing for is that much nearer.

This passage helps us to see the whole church-thing in an end-of-the-age perspective. That's important. The things we do today have a last-day significance. Live, the author of Hebrews seems to be saying, as if you really believe the day of the Lord is upon you! And remember, he's not saying this to a bunch of individuals, but to "the church." The network of relationships in Christ at Jerusalem. Live . . . live together . . . be together . . . as those who are anticipating Jesus at any moment!

If we're not eagerly anticipating that day, the network will morph into something else, perhaps. In my opinion, the American landscape is littered with examples.

But I believe the guy who wrote that letter to the Jerusalem network. He's right. It's good advice. Never stop meeting together. The day is approaching!