Another friend and I have been lamenting our inability to hang out in person. Lately we've been talking almost every day and we definitely communicate in some fashion every day (yay!), but it's been months since we've been able to visit in person and share a Christian Side Hug (TM) and a cup of coffee. I love that we're so in touch right now, but it reminds me how much I would love to get together and spend some time visiting.
Jason and I have been ships passing in the night a bit lately. We were able to carve out some good time this weekend to just snuggle up together and actually BE together, but after a few days of not really spending any time together at all, we could both feel how much we needed to make that connection a priority.
What strikes me the most about this is that these are all people that I communicate with very regularly. But sometimes we just need MORE. A conversation that can't be fully expressed with just words on a screen. A physical interaction that can't be conveyed over the phone or in the five minute hand-off between work and school and rehearsals. Even if we're in touch, there's still something missing until we connect on a more personal level.
I've been thinking about this and how I think it relates to the church. Sometimes I think that the Church can be out of touch. I don't mean that it's not cool and with it. But rather that it can be out of touch with the needs of the people. We who make up the Church can be out of touch with the needs of those around us. We can get caught up in serving in the church or devoting ourselves to a particular doctrine or following a particular political ideology and the next thing we know, we're not actually dealing with people in any kind of meaningful way, but rather simply living parallel lives. We listen to the same music, but we don't discuss what it is about it that moves us. We like the same television shows, but we don't talk about how they make us reflect on our own lives. We poke and give virtual flowers on facebook, but we don't offer a hug or a stick of gum when we're together in real life. We'll rant on a blog about the church not offering help, but not knock on the neighbor's door with a plate of cookies and a visit.
In Matthew 25, Jesus tells us who the Church is and what the Church does. I think the next time that I'm feeling grumpy about the church, this list is going to be where I start looking. If I'm not doing this, then I'm not being the church myself and I'm not in touch either.
