Sunday, March 28, 2010

The Church

I have talked about the Church before on here.. It's one of my main soapboxes, really. I feel like the family of God hasn't even begun to reach her fully capability: what God actually wants us to be. But for the past few years, all I've done is criticize and scrutinize the Church. Congregations in this area, particularly. Most of the time I'm just frustrated: frustrated with the leadership, frustrated with individual members who claim to follow the Way but don't live like it, frustrated with what we think is "important" like making our church pretty.

When it became time to start seriously considering where I wanted to go to college, one of my main reasons for wanting to go away for school was to attend a different church. I had even looked into a few churches I wanted to visit in Kentucky and Nashville. But after much prayer and telling God I would do what He wanted instead of do what I wanted, I decided on the college I swore I would never attend: Ohio Valley University. God really has a sense of humor.

Since I have decided to stay around here, I've dealt with the realization that I'll probably be going to the same church for however long. And it's now that I've grasped that I decide whether I enjoy my congregation or not. I can look at all the bad things, or I can look at all the positive things my congregation does. I can see where I think we have failed miserably, or I can see how we have changed and affected this community for the better. If I do want to complain about something, I need to make my thoughts known and try to change the issue. And trust me, I know there will be things I will not agree with in the future. But, complaining does absolutely nothing.

I have been reminded recently that the body of Christ is made up of humans: people who mess up constantly. So obviously, the Church isn't going to be exactly what she's supposed to be, but we can work toward that goal for the rest of eternity. Together. Because we are a family with all of our problems. But family sticks together through the good, the bad and the ugly.

So, this is my statement -- I will have hope for Christ's body: that we will live as God's chosen people, that we will love each other despite our differences, that we will all work toward the same goal. God created this family for our betterment, and I need to be thankful for this blessing of community.

Peace

1 comment:

rachel =) said...

amen, sister. i'm proud of you. =)