A confusion of words can result in a lifetime of
error. A misunderstanding of words can
corrupt the intentions of God. The word
“church” is one such word. People ask,
“Where do you go to church?” “What kind
of a church is it?”
The church is not an institution
or the building on the corner. The church
is people. The institution is
the denomination, which adheres to certain rules and creeds that one must
affirm to be a member. The building on
the corner is just that, a building where the church meets. These distinctions, far from
being a matter of semantics, are crucial for understanding of how we grow up in
Christ who is the Head of the church.
I had the pleasure of being part
of a wonderful church for almost 15 years.
Because I already knew the church was not the building nor the
institution I was able to survive and thrive.
The people were the church to me and together we practiced our
faith. Some of the people were very
much like me as far as physical, mental, financial health. Others were not as fortunate. A very few shared my politics, many did
not. All of us fit into the band of the church's stretchy arms. This stretching expanded my capacity to care, listen, and give. I saw the beauty of God’s design for the church,
the Body of Christ, people using their giftedness to help each other
“grow into the full measure of Christ.”
During my time with this diverse church I grew phenomenally!
Unfortunately, because of the
confusion of words noted above, often the institution elevates itself over the
church because it thinks it is in fact the church. The rules and regulations are brought to bear. The elasticity, which marks God’s design for
the church, has no place in the institution with with its’ neat wrapper of
creeds, distinctives and rules of order. Instead of a rubber band
stretching to include, the institution is more like a paper band around a
pile of envelopes having little give.
When my giftedness crossed creeds, the institution prevailed. It was a hard and sad time for all. A paper band can only stretch so far.
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It's no secret that I share your sentiments regarding the difference in the elasticity of the paper and the rubber band. The analogy is pretty solid, even with a Church that is bound by the institutional (paper) band yet has some rubber in it. Eventually the band gives way, as it did in your experience. I'm wondering how much personal convictions can be a stretch-less band too though. Where convictions are concerned (not to be confused with opinions), unless there's clear data that those convictions are without solid support from their source of data (1st century written record) they can't be elastic. There are very few of these that the Christian Institutions can claim. Far more are those church opinions that became paper bands. Break any of the greater ones and the pile falls apart; or at least that's how they're treated. We've known that for many years; but until now we've held out hope that things can go differently if we try someplace else. But even the best environment seems to break with a bit too much stretching. Painfully sad.
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