I Love My Church....Really?

As I sit down to write this blog I am reminded of some of the things that people say without ever realizing that what they are saying may not have any meaning at all. (I know, run on sentence..its okay its my blog) I draw this conclusion from a post I read recently on a popular social media site. This poster was commenting on all of the name calling and backbiting that goes on in the church. She then follows this up with the statement "I love my church" and then gives the name of a local congregation. Now as catchy as that phrase may seem it is not only wrong its divisive. How so you may ask...good question. If the Bible is true, and we believe that it is, then there is only one church, the church of Jesus Christ, and all believers are members of that one church. So I guess technically Jesus could say I love my church and He does say that all the time. We on the other hand would have to say I love THE church. This however would not be as good of a marketing tool because now we are referring to the Body of Christ and not our favorite local expression of that body.( are you with me so far?) To continue in this vein if we are criticising one part of the body and then saying how much we love our little corner of the body we are therefore thinking that the congregation that we regularly attend is somehow superior to the congregation that others might attend. To go one step further if for any reason one was to think that "those things" aren't going on in my local expression of the body then that person is either a very new Christian or among the believers that zip in on Saturday night or Sunday morning for their weekly fill up of righteousness and then goes right back out to the world as they know it and chooses not to get involved with the life of the church and all those who make up the body. The body of Christ is made up of people, good people, good people doing their level best to follow Jesus. People are flawed, I know I am one, you are one! Will there be dissension in the church? Yes, Paul wrote about it in his letter to the Corinthians. Are there problems in the church? Yes, and they manifest themselves in every congregation no matter how large or how small. (yes even yours). Will being critical of other members of His body ever be profitable, you tell me. But I do believe that we all should be striving to be the body of believers Paul was calling us to in Ephesians chapter 4:13-15. Don't get me wrong, I don't think that writing this is going to get any body to stop saying "I love my church" but my purpose is to try to get you to think about what you are saying. And even if you are not saying it yet maybe we can begin thinking "I love THE Church".

PG