Why the ruckus? (Not #JustinBieber again)

picture from Complex Magazine

Recently Justin Bieber seems to have caused a real ruckus when he said:

"You don’t need to go to church to be a Christian."
(we'll talk about Taco Bell later)

Major media outlets covered the statement and they truly seemed to revel in (even promote) the anguish of many christians and the turmoil in their churches. Push-back came from faithful "church attendees" claiming that for the majority of christians going to church is mandatory - that a Christian would never forsake the gathering of the Body.

Perhaps it might be helpful here to ask: why the ruckus? The answer is: because we're afraid of the answer.

The statement by Bieber (a young man newly seeking after Christ) seems, in reality to be a plea for clarification on his theological journey. Lacking understanding he posed the statement. Within the statement there are two fundamental questions: What is Church? What is a Christian?  These questions strike at the very heart of our "Ecclesiology" (our thinking about Church) hence our knee-jerk reactions to it. Why? Because the young man asked questions that struck a nerve. They force us to take an hard look in the mirror and to ponder our reflection. Quite honestly, few of us will like what we see reflected in the questions. Frankly, many of us are comfortable, prosperous and enjoying ourselves - Bieber's questions undermine us.

"What is Church" forces us to examine the nature of Christ's Church relative to what we do. "What is a Christian?" leads us inevitably to the question "am I a Christian?" Many of the outbursts in response to Bieber seemed to follow the logic: I am a Christian, I go to church thus christians must go to church. In truth our push back is not even against the question, it is against the truth staring us in the mirror. Our push back is self defense; it is preservation of self image and self esteem and our self definition. Our push back comes from not liking our own self convicting answers. If my christianity is based on my going to church, then what am I if going to church does not make a Christian?

Christians are Christ followers. Christ followers follow Christ. Christ followers take seriously what Christ taught, what He said and what He commanded. Are we following Christ? We are not completely fools - we see the answer too clearly in our comfort, leisure and prosperity - we see the answer in our sisters' and brothers' pain, toil and poverty. We don't like Bieber's questions because we don't like the answers we bring to them and the inevitable conviction in the conclusions we draw.

Christian is not a banner we can claim; it is a condition: we either are, or, we are not. Similarly Church is not a place we go, it is the cloud of Christians bearing witness of Christ. Thus the statement "You don't need to go to church to be Christian" is true. IF I am Christian I have stepped into the place prepared for me in the Church: this is a constant regardless of where I am - this is a constant reflecting in my witness of Christ.

Too often Christ's teachings are muddled as theological words morph from the majestic to the mundane. Two words that are too often misunderstood are these very fundamental words Church and Christian.

(subscribe, follow and comment below - in the weeks to come we will explore the symptoms of being Christian and of Church)

Psalm 150:1-6 "Praise the Lord! Praise God in his sanctuary; praise him in his mighty heavens! Praise him for his mighty deeds; praise him according to his excellent greatness! Praise him with trumpet sound; praise him with lute and harp! Praise him with tambourine and dance; praise him with strings and pipe! Praise him with sounding cymbals; praise him with loud clashing cymbals!"

Now for deeply contemplative chuckle: