What is Church? What does it mean to you personally? Since living in South Africa I have been thinking about that a lot. Our community has a big emphasis on being the church in all we do in everyday activities. It's really great! But, it has been hard to think of church outside the box and not just a Sunday thing. Today we had a Good Friday service (we will also have a day of reflection on Saturday and a service on Easter Sunday). Although I have enjoyed all of our Friday "church" services, this one really moved me. We had a lot of people joining us tonight: friends of staff, others who are involved with our community regularly, apprentices from 2005 who were here for the conference, and about 10 twentyish year olds from the township who are mentored by one of the staff members. It was a really moving service...probably one of the best ones I have attended for Good Friday recently. (I actually helped lead a worship song for the first time...it was great!) However, after service about 5 of us took our leftover food out to some of the people who live on the streets in our city's town center. That was really moving! They were so grateful! After that the township boys took over the piano. They were singing and dancing and just showing off. It was pretty great! After those two things I thought, "This is what church is really about: being a community while serving your community...both in giving food out, giving those in our "community" a safe, welcoming place to come to, and worship our God together." Just some thoughts I was having on Church. I hope it was interesting to read and think about. :)
manda
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2 comments:
"Being a community while serving your community." Nicely put! :o)
The worship song you helped lead WAS great :-) I also found the Good Friday service very moving and wish I could have stayed to the end. I also love the idea of church not being about passively sitting and receiving a teaching, but being about sharing community together and serving each other and those outside the community. Sometimes I leave NC's Friday services (and last years' Sunday services) feeling that this wasn't really 'church' but then also have had to ask myself what church then is? Perhaps this is a far deeper form of church than what we're normally used to. It certainly demands more from each person present.
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