It’s been a while since I posted; I couldn’t quite put into words what has been going through my mind (after you read this, you may be convinced I am still having trouble putting it into words). I have been thinking a lot about the phrase, “walking the talk” as it applies to the church as a collected group of believers; as a community of the faithful. Usually when we use the phrase, we apply it to ourselves as individuals – do our actions need to match up with our words; does our doing give evidence of what we way we value and believe. We tend to judge whether or not a person is genuine by the sum total of their activity. Do we think the same way about the church?
Perhaps it depends on how one views the church. For me, it seems accurate to suggest that the “American Way” is to see ourselves as unique individuals who choose to be parts of certain activities and organizations as those activities and organizations meet our needs and appeal to us. We are consumers who pick and choose our way through life depending on what strikes our fancy and meets our needs. The same seems to hold true for the church, or whatever religious or spiritual groups we are a part of. In this sense we view ourselves as participating in a church in order to receive particular benefits. We see ourselves as consumers of religious goods and services so to speak. If this is indeed the way things are, then how does the church, which in my understanding is a group of people gathered by God for the sharing of the good news, decide what its ministries are? Where does the church look for its values? If the purpose of the church is to provide religious goods and services to keep the most consumers happy, is the church walking the talk of the gospel? Is the church guilty of trying to meet people where they are and give them what they want?
It seems to me that a more appropriate way of imagining ourselves is to understand our individual participation in the church as communal. In a sense we lose our individual status and take on the role of a member of a community that is engaged in something together. Church is not something that primarily benefits me, but is a community that impacts me and the world in which I live and work and play. This community is gathered by God for the purpose of loving the world, sharing the gospel and living together in such a way as to give witness to these things. My participation in this community then will help shape and form the community while at the same time it shapes and forms me. Understood in this way, I suddenly find myself involved in something far bigger than just me and my happiness. Church is not a place to go to get religious goods and services, it is a group of people who participate with me in living out the faith we all profess.
If the church is going to walk this talk, it seems to me that we need to really question the notion that the church is a business that caters to consumers and instead challenge ourselves to be a community engaged in changing lives and modeling the gospel. In a world that makes money catering to unique and individual needs and tastes, this is an incredible challenge.
