"The church is whore but she is my Mother" St. Augustine
I was sitting today at a Braai with some mates, andI got speaking to a really good friend of mine. She was just talking how much the church had hurt her and hurt her family. What is it about the church that causes this immense hurt. Why if we are called to love and be Gods light, why is it that there are people still in deep disappear and deep depression caused by the church? Some things that I noticed from our chat is that the church is seen to be God. Why is it that this is the case. Are we living in a society that is so short of authentic experiences of God that they equate the church to God or is it that the church has taken a monopoly on the experiences of God. That we can only experience God in his so called house. So the broken come to this place trying to find this experience and they then receive a shock to the system and find themselves even more broken. I don't know the answers but I would like to maybe see it differently. The church is not Gods only house. When the cloth tore in the temple it didn't only allow people to come in, it also allowed God to come out.
So therefore there are no God forsaken people, places or events there are only church forsaken people, places, events.
I was thinking the other day how when we pray to God through song how often we sing I & MY in our songs and very little about community. Yet the Our Father has no I's, Me's. or My's. How often do we sing God in He and how often do we sing God as female. I personal have found comfort in seeing my picture of God as a black women.
But on the other side is that the church gives us life if we allow it to. It is God's bride and it is Gods hope for humanity. It feeds some of the poor, cares for the hurt, and nourishes the rich.
So I am caught in this dilemma, of whether the church is living out its grace. How do we become a church of grace? Whats are we doing to make sure that the hurts that we experience in the church are not inflicted on others.
I was sitting today at a Braai with some mates, andI got speaking to a really good friend of mine. She was just talking how much the church had hurt her and hurt her family. What is it about the church that causes this immense hurt. Why if we are called to love and be Gods light, why is it that there are people still in deep disappear and deep depression caused by the church? Some things that I noticed from our chat is that the church is seen to be God. Why is it that this is the case. Are we living in a society that is so short of authentic experiences of God that they equate the church to God or is it that the church has taken a monopoly on the experiences of God. That we can only experience God in his so called house. So the broken come to this place trying to find this experience and they then receive a shock to the system and find themselves even more broken. I don't know the answers but I would like to maybe see it differently. The church is not Gods only house. When the cloth tore in the temple it didn't only allow people to come in, it also allowed God to come out.
So therefore there are no God forsaken people, places or events there are only church forsaken people, places, events.
I was thinking the other day how when we pray to God through song how often we sing I & MY in our songs and very little about community. Yet the Our Father has no I's, Me's. or My's. How often do we sing God in He and how often do we sing God as female. I personal have found comfort in seeing my picture of God as a black women.
But on the other side is that the church gives us life if we allow it to. It is God's bride and it is Gods hope for humanity. It feeds some of the poor, cares for the hurt, and nourishes the rich.
So I am caught in this dilemma, of whether the church is living out its grace. How do we become a church of grace? Whats are we doing to make sure that the hurts that we experience in the church are not inflicted on others.
2 comments:
Hi Just.
I really liked your blog. You seem to blog more regularly than me I blog about once a week generally or when I get uptight about something. I have always found church to be a safe environment for me what I always found confusing was despite all my best intentions people around seemed to get hurt in this place that I considered safe. Never fitting in at school meant that church was my refuge, still most of my closesr friends I made at church, my relationship with my cousin would never be as strong as it is today had it not been for the church. So I always struggle with the way it seems to hurt people the problem is I don't ever see it happening I seem to live in blissful oblivion until it blindsides me. Or I never find out what went wrong. It's a little disconcerting but I agree the problem is when you make the church God, the church is people and people hurt each other regularly but I can only hope that with God in our lives we'll learn to hurt less and love more.
Hey Jus,
Colourful (in all ways) blog you have here.
There is a fine line between genius and looney, methinks your thoughts are thankfully still on the 'genius' side.
C
PS. Black woman??!!? Huh? You talking Halle Berry or Whoopi Goldberg?
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