Or maybe I should call it deconstructing
church. I have been meaning to start this post for awhile, but was really hoping to have more time to be more thorough. I determined today that I would send it out as a brief discussion starter and rather let you all determine where it should go instead. So my question is this: What is church? Sounds simple enough to answer, but I find, often enough, that the word's meaning can change
within a simple sentence or phrase. Not a problem, really. I have no problem with words meaning whatever the culture is accustomed to using it to mean. But when you have one word that means multiple things to a given culture, it is often easy to misunderstand one another when speaking/writing about such things. Not only that, but we have the issue that we are people being shaped by a story that happens to use that same word. When we use the word do we mean by it what the authors of the story meant by it? I don't think it is 'bad' or 'wrong' to use the word differently . . . I don't think that is what being
biblical is really all about. But I do think it can become confusing and that issues become misunderstood when meanings are swapped. Take the following examples:
I go to
church on Sundays.
The letter to the
church in Rome . . .
You're one of those
church-people.
The
church met to discuss our options.
The
church issued an encyclical.
These are the events happening at the
church this weekend . . .
Church was really good today.
Sally is un-
churched.
Are you a member of that
church?
The
church is seated w/ the Christ in the heavenlies.
She works for the
church.
So, faced with this array of options of meanings for
church (and I just gave examples of different usages w/o really talking about meaning), what is one supposed to conclude is the meaning behind a statement like 'X is the direction the church is going'?
Ultimately, I would expect, wherever the discussion takes us, eventually to answer the question: so what does this mean for the people who participate in this post? What does this mean for those who meet at the Boehmers' house on Tuesday nights? Does clarifying the issue
change anything?
