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Jack Out of The Box

Updated 4/26/10

  

  

 

 

Flying Squirrels Meet Ecclesiology

Last Saturday, I took Gabe deer hunting.  (For you anti-hunters I wish I could leave that part out, but it is pertinent for the purposes of this blog).   It was an experience that has challenged my faith since last Saturday.  I need your help, so please post a response at the end of this blog (PLEASE!!!).

We arrived at the shooting house about 2 hours before dark and set up for the evening hunt.  This particular shooting house is a nice one.  It is large enough for two hunters to sit in comfortably.  It was built by a hunter who no longer has access to this hunting land.  So, now it belongs to the land owner.  For the last few years, Gabe and I have been the primary users of this great shooting house.  We love spending time there.  It is some great "father and son time." 

However, we weren't alone. 

There were two flying squirrels there when we arrived.  History has taught me that I usually have an annual encounter with them.  They look like really big mice with furry tails.  They live there some years and some years not.  So, I ran them outside the house and Gabe and I settled in for the hunt. 

Gabe got settled in playing his DS, and I sat back to watch the field.  During the hunt, I began to think.  (I know that's dangerous, but I did it anyway.)

It got me to thinking about one question:  Whose house was this anyway?

The one who built it was long gone.  The landowner never used it, but .  My son and I used it as for it's designed purpose, but no more than 5 or 6 times a year.  The squirrels could take advantage of it year round, but not for its intended purpose.  Whose house was this?

Does it matter?  No matter whether you are a naturalist, a hunter, or libertarian, it really doesn't matter.  It is great food for thought, but of no real consequence. 

Now, consider the church.  Consider the interview of the Grand Inquisitor in Dostoevsky's Brothers Karamazov.  To whom does the CHURCH belong?

The ones who built it are long gone.  The denomination may lay a legal claim to it, but do they ever use it for its intended purpose?  When does it get used for its intended purpose?  Is it just used for some "Heavenly Father and son time?"   Do the locals move in and claim it when not in use?  Does that mean that it belongs to the community?  Whose church is it? 

Certainly we could say that it belongs to Christ.  No one would dare argue with that.  The next quextion would focus on the intended purpose.  Is the CHURCH's purpose as singular as that of a shooting house?  Is it to witness to our faith in God?  Is it to reveal God's love through teaching?  Is it a house of worship?  Is it a place of justice and hope?  What is its purpose?  Does it get used for its intended purpose very often?  When it is not being used for it's purpose, does the community move in to set up shop?  Do squatters have rights here?  Whose church is it? 

It's just what I've been thinking about lately.  Have you?

Jack 

I welcome your responses. 

Posted by blog@gbumc.org at 9:14 PM

Comments

1/7/2010 at 12:59 AM by Steve Worth

Only because you asked for it, here is my response:

neither the shooting house or the church belong in their locations. The shooting house is there in the woods and most of the residents, save for a couple of flying squirrels, care for it being there (the wild "game" have an invested interest in it NOT being there).
Likewise, the church doesn't belong in it's setting, whether it be located in Gulf Breeze or elsewhere. Sure, houses of worship are valued by more residents than a pair of rodents, but the church is the people, not the building. (remember "I am the church, you are the church, we are the church together!) And as the church, we are called to help answer that groan that all creation has for redemption (if you listen closely you can hear the last vestiges of that groan when your arrow hits it's mark).

As the church, we are called apart to respond to that groan with love and offer assurances that redemption is real-in the past, in the future and especially in the present.

The church belongs to God, as does all creation.


1/7/2010 at 07:39 AM by Tiffany Turner

I second what Steve said. The building is just a facility, an asset made to bring people to the Lord. It makes me sad when churches take a "members only club" approach to their facility. Why not have it open to anyone & everyone? What opportunity for ministry there is in having after-school care, ESL classes, scouts troops,dementia day-care,sewing clubs, scrapbooking groups, pick-up basketball games, etc. open to anyone who wants to come! You get people coming in the building who would never come on Sunday morning and the chance to make them feel welcome & cared for. Even if they never attend a Sunday service, you have shown Christ's love by caring for their needs. That is the intended puropse of the church building.
But as for the Church's purpose, "Go, and make disciples of all nations." (Not just those people who you like to minister to, who are like you.) Jesus didn't say, bring them to church & make disciples. The goal isn't getting more butts in the pews & dollars in the offering plate, while that isn't a bad by-product. The Church is to go to where the need is, be it in your neighborhood, workplace, a mission site, the prison or juvie, in the bars, in the hood, ...am I making my point yet? In everyday life we are to be the light shining in the darkness, never judging or condescending, always loving & helping & praying. No holy huddling in the church building - being in the world as salt & light. Every single day. Always with love & joy. It's the only way to actually make disciples.


1/7/2010 at 08:24 AM by Stephanie Wright

My feeling is a church is built for one thing ... LOVE. Weddings, funerals, Worship services, meetings, Bible studies, friendships, classes, preschool, learning, accepting, feeling...okay I will stop. When I think of my church I truly feel Love. I do know there are some bad apples out there and the true guts of making a large church function can bring out some bad, but all in all it's a wonderful, beautiful place to celebrate God's favorite thing ... LOVE!


1/7/2010 at 01:50 PM by Tim Meadows

The shooting house belongs to the land owner. Yes someone came and erected it for a purpose and for a time, but once built it belongs to the land owner. Others may presently use it, on occassion, while visiting the area, for its intended purpose, but even while you are sitting there it belongs to the land owner. The squirrels, more of the permenant residents, who, in my similiar experience, are not pleased with the disruption of others sitting in the pew, I mean shooting house, may dwell their frequently, but it belongs to the owner. Some have built to use for a period, others presently utilize for its intended purpose, some are regular inhabitants, but it belongs to the land owner. As such, the land owner can choose to leave it, destroy it, move it, leave it for ruin, improve it, etc... But no matter how you look at it, it belongs to the one true owner.


1/7/2010 at 06:29 PM by Mary Jane Moore

I think that Tiffany said it very well. The church is a place dedicated to God and should always be open to everyone, a place of love, a place of sharing and caring, a place where examples are set, a place where children can come to learn and always feel loved and safe.
As for the shooting house-------------------------...


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