In Defense of Corporate Worship Part 2

Really, the primary reason I find that people pro-actively leave the church or decide against "organized religion" (ever seen that phrase used in a positive context?) is because of a sin issue--some event in their church (i.e. a nasty church split) or in the church at large (i.e. the Catholic abuse scandal) pushes them over the edge. If this is how it is in the church, who needs it?

On the one hand, I've got tons of sympathy for this. Sin in the church has eternally damaging effects. James says that teachers will be judged more harshly--I think that this is because of the obvious reality that what happens in the church affects people, sometimes horrifically. And when something bad goes down in a church, often the worst and most silent victims are the kids. Jesus has some harsh things to say about people who cause little ones to stumble.

But on the other hand, I ask you to consider that the entire Christian premise is based around these core concepts:

a) God is good.
b) People are not.
c) Therefore, people are in need of some type of remedy or healing or fix or else the whole lot of us goes to pot.
d) Therefore, Merry Christmas and Happy Easter. Redemption and forgiveness is offered in Christ who comes, dies, and rises again. And it's worked out in our lives over time in our relationships with one another and in the hearts and lives of believers.

The church is the first place where we have to live out the gospel of forgiveness and grace to one another, not the last place.

If our operating supposition is that people are not good, why are we so shocked that sin happens in the church? The church is the first place where the Spirit must actually apply and work out this gospel of healing, restoration, and hope in the midst of brokenness.

This is process of speaking truth and offering grace and forgiveness is true for folks who choose to live in disobedience. This process must also be at work for those who are shocked and appalled by people in power who abuse that power in their mis-handling of those who are in disobedience. Grace and sin are both fundamental to the Christian message. Why are we shocked that we should be required to rely on the one and deal with the other in Christian community?

The Christian church has always been something of a disaster. Nearly the entire New Testament was written because there were problems in the early churches that needed to be dealt with. And yet the love of Christ for His Church universal is consistently and constantly repeated and hammered home.

And so, my post-churched friends, I invite you to re-consider the realities of sin and grace as you think about your attitudes towards the church. And for those of us who can get discouraged on nearly a weekly basis about something going on somewhere in the church community, we need to be sobered by the twin realities of sin and grace at work in the church...and the hope that we cling to that grace and redemption wins in the end.