Dreadful it is to fall into the hands of the living God!

These words of Kierkegaard have taken on new meaning in my life. I have been in an awfully tumultuous place spiritually as of late. God is moving violently in me lately and I am pulled so many directions I don't know which is(are) the correct one(s).

One of these directions is how do I view church, which church should I attend, should I attend a church, or just plan on having "church" within a small community. Shane Claiborne has this to say about church and I find the quote he uses humorous.

There are congregations on nearly every corner. I'm not sure we need more churches. What we really need is a church. I say one church is better than fifty. I have tried to remove the plural form churches from my vocabulary, training myself to think of the church as Christ did, and as the early Christians did. The metaphors for her are always singular - a body. a bride. I heard one gospel preacher say it like this, as he really wound up and broke a sweat:
"We've got to unite ourselves as one body. Because Jesus is coming back, and he's coming back for a bride, not a harem."

I guess this is a good view of church. But it won't ever happen, we will never be "one body." Or will we? We have to at least try right? What does that mean? What does that look like?

I don't know.

Hopefully some day I will.

I know that part of being the church in the first century meant taking care of the poor and oppressed. What has happened today? We still claim this as a function of the church, but are the poor really being cared for? Brought into the community? Are the walls of separation being torn down? Or are we still holding on to our possessions and avoiding the words of the New Testament and the (dreadful) hands of the living God?

Basil of Caesarea, who started some of the first christian hospice houses, hospital type places, and schools, was passionate about taking care of the poor, sick and oppressed.

When someone strips a man of his clothes, we call him a thief. And one who might clothe the naked and does not- should not he be given the same name? The bread in your cupboard belongs to the hungry; the coat in your wardrobe belongs to the naked; the shoes you let rot belong to the barefoot; the money in your vaults belongs to the destitute.


If you belong to Christ, then you belong to the poor.