During this past year I felt like I sort of got burned out with church. It’s kind of strange, because I’ve gone to church regularly my entire life. At first I was concerned, wondering if this indicated a spiritual problem within me or if I was still a Christian. While I don’t have all of the answers, I have received encouragement from one of my close Christian friends.
As I’ve been thinking about it more recently, I believe I’m feeling that I want church to be something more and other than religious services, which is about the only thing it seems to be most of the time. True, Christianity is more than this, but I don’t believe people often think about church as being more than this. It seems like church is the place/meeting you go to, where you are encouraged to live and act more “Christian” yourself.
As mentioned, I’m tired of Christian meetings and bible studies. I want something more—the word that has been coming to mind is incarnational. I feel like I have this vision coalescing of an incarnational church. Maybe that’s not a good word to use or maybe it is. I’ve thought about “incarnational” because I’ve thought about church as being something living. As I’m thinking about it now, I am imagining a group which embodies the spirit of Christianity, not a group which merely engages in religious practices and holds on to some set of rules (stated or unstated).
I guess I’m envisioning a group that, rather than withdrawing from and taking time out of normal life for religious gathering, instead weaves the threads of their faith into the fabric of their lives. Maybe what I’m asking for is a continuing removal of the sacred/secular barrier. I want a group, and I am using that term loosely, which can encourage each other in all situations, not one which feels like they are being spiritual only if they are engaging in narrowly defined religious practices or talk.
I guess this doesn’t sound like something so new after all. I feel I have this kind of relationship with a few people, but I guess I’m wanting more. I don’t know, maybe that’s not the issue at all.
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