Thanks to all of you who chimed in on my question of what would make up the "ideal church." I want to let this conversation go on another day, so I will try not to squelch the comments with some of my own.
Mark Daniels and Bill Bean both graciously pointed out the problem with using terms like "ideal". They also graciously gave me the benefit of the doubt and chimed in anyway. As I have quoted Eugene Peterson before, the church is all mystery and mess--and never ideal. (I also love that Mark mentioned Bonhoeffer's famous caution that our dreams of community can actually destroy community. Something I posted on here. It's one of my favorite quotes.)
But, a careful reading of the comments show that none of us look at the church with "idealistic" eyes. Just great hopes and a sober sense that it can and should be more than it is. I want to look at some tentative conclusions we can draw from our conversation tomorrow, but let me ask you to do the same by reading the comments and asking these questions:
- What common threads or themes do you see in most all the posts? What does it seem that most of us really want in a church?
- What is conspicuously absent in these comments? What is NOT in the comments that we might assume would be?
Of course, if you haven't yet posted a comment please go to the original post and chime in. (special note to SCPC folk: I am ESPECIALLY interested in what your ideal church would look like!)
One last thing. Becky's comment here is in my opinion the single greatest thing to happen as a result of this blog and for me, makes all the posts worth writing. Praise be to God and thanks to all of you who make this church conversation so much better than if it was just in my own head.
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