Temple

I have been reading alot and writing even more about what the church has been, what it is now and what it is evolving into. This entire process, called the Emergent Church movement, has become my passion in life. I want to discover a deeper well and draw fresh water. No longer am I statisfied with the old paradigm of what religion is, what faith is, what church is. I want more.

I have found there are many like me. They are tired but still thirsty. They are not satisfied but they still seek. They want more but will not settle for the old recipe.

This quest has met resistance. I have been told that I am trying to harm the body of Christ, that my mission as an emergent worship leader is somehow damaging to the institution of the church. Interesting...

I have been told that if I truly loved Jesus like I claim to do I would stop hurting His church... Hmmmm. Food for thought.

This sort of statement creates interesting questions. What is the Body of Christ? What is His Church? How has it been harmed? When is it healthy? When is it powerful? Who owns the title "HIS CHURCH?" Hmmmm. Let me state quite clearly that NO ONE OWNS a patent on the body of Christ. No one group, no one belief, no one building is the True Body of Christ.

What is a church really? This is the ultimate question. Is the church the big brick buildings that line our city streets? Or are those just buildings? My good friend Cody Haner is always insisting that the real church, the church that Jesus sees, doesn't have anything at all to do with those brick buildings. In fact, he preaches that this kind of church is just a building. It’s just four walls. He says that our body is the temple. We are to build within ourselves the holy place of worship.

So what of body of Christ? The body of Christ is awesome. It is powerful. It cannot be destroyed. Evil tried to break it. Back on that dark Friday night they tried to destroy it. They whipped it, they beat it and they broken it down. But it would not be defeated. After three days it came back together again.



Friends, the body of Christ is the assemblage of faithful believers where ever they may gather in Jesus' name. The church is alive in basements in China. The church is alive in prison cells and soup kitchens. The church is alive in the Sudan. The church is alive here. We believe. We seek. We find. We can make an aluminum machine shed into a church. We can make a rusty old van into a church. We can make our bodies into a church.

I want my life to be a neon sign that points to the Lord. That's all I'm trying to do. I am not telling anyone that my way is right or the only way. I am just sharing what works for me. And if you feel disenfranchised by the traditional church come look at what my wild bunch of radical Jesus Freaks are doing. We are just sharing the Gospel. Sharing the Good News that Jesus is alive and powerful today.

No one who calls on Jesus, faithfully follows His call and loves his neighbor in Christian love can harm the body of Christ. In fact, they are building a stronger church, a church that moves and loves and reaches and grows. A church that goes where others are scared to go, reaching the cold, the poor and hurt, the needy. That is what Jesus wanted His church to do. That is where Jesus went. He reached into the darkness to spread the light.

BE THE LIGHT!