Friends,
We, The Vine, are a church.
As soon as I say that, many of us begin to feel something. The word church carries baggage. Perhaps you're glad to be part of a church, but quickly find yourself thinking, Yes, but we're not that kind of church. Perhaps you'd rather use words like family or community.
I understand that impulse.
The church has left many people wounded, disappointed, or skeptical. At the same time, many of us long for something deeper than individual spirituality or curated community.
We long for gritty belonging.
We often assume that, to meet that need, the church must become more polished, more palatable, or more impressive. But as N.T. Wright has suggested in various ways, the church is called to become more real.
The church is meant to be a small working model of God's new creation—a different way of being human together.
This means the church is not first a building, an institution, or an ideology. The church is a people: a community where forgiveness, patience, generosity, repentance, and reconciliation become visible in ordinary life. And none of those things can be practiced alone. That is why we gather.
Of course, we gather imperfectly. We'll always be imperfect on this side of the renewal of all things. But our imperfections are not obstacles to being the church; they are the very reason we need one another.
The grit in our gathering is a feature of the church, not a flaw.
We don't gather because gathering is convenient. We gather because "iron sharpens iron." We become more like Jesus through the joyful, awkward, diverse, and sometimes challenging work of showing up for and with one another. This is why the author of Hebrews encourages us:
"Do not neglect meeting together." (Hebrews 10:25).
Not because saying, "Present!" earns us anything, but because this is how God forms a people. Left to ourselves, we tend to build our lives around preference and ease. But the church invites us to something deeper: covenanting to this gritty belonging, which is more real than our modern convenience culture.
You do not belong because you have it all together — nor do I, praise the Lord! You belong because the God who created you loves you, forgives you, and is committed to forming you into the likeness of Christ alongside others who are being formed, too.
As you read below about some opportunities to gather this summer — our 4-week WORD series, youth and children's gatherings, newcomer event, and more — don't begin by asking, Is this convenient? And don't begin by asking, Will this entertain me? (Though both may well be true!) Instead, consider a different question:
What part of the gritty belonging that God desires for me might I miss by staying away?
~ Or ~
How might God want to meet me—or someone else through me—if I show up?
Michael+
