Last week, driving through my neighborhood returning home from I-don’t-know-where, I was struck my the make-up of our community. Not in terms of people, but in terms of businesses and services. I commented to my boyfriend James that as a city, we are filled with places where people go to make themselves sick, and places they go to get well… but we are severely lacking in places for people to go just to BE. At the time, I was specifically lamenting the lack of art, and the way that art is treated by the people here… but the important thing about that exchange is that at the time, I was most sincerely classifying our multitude of churches under the “places people go to get well” column.
Last Sunday, God told me I was wrong.
Or, rather, that I was right, and that it grieves Him, too.
During worship at church, I had one of those moments where I have to stop everything, pull out my notebook, and begin writing feverishly. This is what I wrote:
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A church – our God – is not a doctor or a therapist. A church in the glory of God is a theater, a museum, a gallery, a concert hall. Too many come to church, come to God, for healing – which is possible, but not the point. We sin all week, cause sickness in our souls, and think church is where we go to get well. NO!!! Church is where we go to stand in awe! Like any great art, it can be a balm to our soul, but it isn’t about us. Do we go see a great painting, an amazing play, and assume it was done all for our benefit? Even when it touches us so deeply that we feel that way, we know that it serves a higher purpose.
Others treat church – God – as the drug rather than the treatment. We come craving a high, wanting to feel good about ourselves. NO!! The Word is not a bar where you can choose your drink, your favorite line, and ignore the rest. Like all great art, God challenges as often as He comforts.
Faith perfectly attuned to a perfect God sits at the place where both healing and hurting touch, but cannot enter. It isn’t about the future, or the past. Like a great symphony, it captures us. It forces us to EXIST, in each perfect moment, in perfect communion.
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Just a rough scribble. Take it for what it’s worth 
Wow Genevieve. THIS IS GREAT STUFF! I love the idea of CHURCH being a place where we can stand, bow, revel, jump, dance, shout, clap, sing, and/or be quiet in the wonderful presence of a BIG GOD! Keep writing!
This is beautifully written and I couldn’t agree with you more! How I would love to see what perfect communion looks like! Blessings!