What is church?

Don't worry. Not a lengthy discourse. Last Sunday (err... make that 2 Sundays ago). We had a combined church service with the Chinese Methodist Church (who use our building for their services on Sunday afternoons.) However, due to the International Women's Bike race that took place in Wellington (and caused the closure of inner city streets), the service had to take place on Sunday evening instead.

As part of the service, each church talk about what they were about. Can't remember much, but the CMC said one of their goals was to win people to Christ. Not a bad goal - being a church. But, one of pastors who spoke on behalf of Central summed Central as being inclusive, showing compassion and creating community. Well, they certainly have shown that to accept a cynical, questionning, non-institutional-conforming person like me *phew*.

Sin

Such a loaded word. A word I struggle to explain what it means because it seems so damning. I guess it is. At our last young adult SE group, we discussed sin. Someone brought up a point from a book they had read: sin is when we do not know our true selves (apologies for my bad verbatim quote).

I like that concept. It is more freeing and yet more challenging at the same time. Sometimes talking about sin can end up in guilt bashing, or it may seem that there is no ounce of good or nobility. It can be a very depressing topic when talking about doing wrong, being rebellious and all that. It’s all very negative wording. I’m not trying to make sin sound nice – it isn’t nice. But sin as a concept of a state of being when we do not know our true selves seems a lot less condemning.

If we are made in the image of God, then our true selves is one that is good. When we know our true self, that can be one way for us to connect to God. For example, in the garden of Eden Adam and Eve only started to cover themselves up after eating the fruit. That was where they starting hiding parts of who they are. And this is why we don’t know our true selves. We put on layers and masks, because we learn very early on from our environment (family, peers, society) that certain ways of thinking, certain ways of behaving, certain ways of expressing ourselves etc. are more acceptable than others. Thus we start to put on layers to cover up who we truly are (and cover up our true selves).

How does Christ fit into this? Christ offers grace. Grace frees us to start peeling off the layers because we are accepted for who we truly are. The work of Christ on the cross conveys unconditional love, so I am free to be me – that surely is life in abundance.

"The first step toward finding God, Who is Truth, is to discover the truth about myself: and if I have been in error, this first step to truth is the discovery of my error." Thomas Merton