Reflections on the Summer, Part 2: What I Learned About Church

          Today, as I began to reflect on the summer once again, I kept coming back to one night in particular. On our last off day in Wingate, NC, we spent the day by the pool relaxing. That night, a small group of us decided to eat in the cafeteria for dinner to save money. As we sat there eating, it began to pour. By the time we were ready to leave, water was rushing past us on either side. As some staffers ran back, Sara and I decided to walk through it. As we were walking, a calm draped over me. As the rain fell over us, so did a sense of worship. A few moments later, I began a prayer of Thanksgiving. How lucky we were to have the rain. How lucky we were to have one another. How lucky we were to even have a cafeteria to walk back from. Laughter and dancing soon took over as Sara and I enjoyed every step back to the dorm.

          Once we returned, we joined a few other staffers in a time of puddle jumping. As we jumped from one pile of water to another, I experienced something extraordinary. We were laughing, playing, jumping, and being rowdy. However, it seemed so much like worship. In fact, it felt more like worship than some Sunday mornings. With each stomp, I could feel the rain run across us, uniting us all. We were tied by the bonds of this water, by this time of enjoying God's creation together. 

          At Selah Vie, a reflection-filled retreat at the end of the summer, we were asked the question, "Where did you see Church/What did you learn about Church this summer?" As I sat there, I went over all of the beautiful moments we had this summer in worship and with churches. However, that night in Wingate kept rushing back to me. The more I sat there, the more I became frustrated. Suddenly, I realized why. 

          Why does the church so quickly miss the point of worship? When did we decide as Christians that worship only counted if it followed a specific model? Who decided that the kind of songs we sing and the need for a sermon at the end was more important than the sense of holiness that surrounds the moment?What I learned about Church this summer is how beautiful it is to be a part of a church that finds worship in everyday life. Although Sunday worship is crucial to any form of Life Together in a Christian community, so is time to play and get to know one another. What if getting to know one another, if playing together, also became conscious parts of our sense of worship? What if we took the time to define beautiful moments of our Life Together not my secular words, but instead by holy words? What if we defined every moment, every second of our lives, as worship? If we are constantly defining our time together as worship, something beautiful might happen. Everyday interactions will become moments that connect us to one another. Relationships will become deeper. Our love of people will become closer and closer to the love God has for each of us. By redefining worship, we are taking away the restricting box we tend to put church in, and instead letting that feeling of love and acceptance become our lives. How much more beautiful would life be if we all took away those boxes and just let love and acceptance flow?