A man in a flowing red cape, who had recently lost an eye in a desperate brawl, declared with a deep Australian voice, “Asgard is not a place. It’s a people.” Fighting for this idea, and watching his world burn to ashes around him, he was determined to rescue his people. On the movie screen before me it seemed he had succeeded.
After the credits rolled on this film and I contemplated the main character’s idea, I realized the comment was one that mirrored maxims I had heard before from young believers. Young people commonly feel like there isn’t a place for them in church, but they feel they do have a connection with God. Some feel they can obtain a deeper personal connection with Him out on a mountaintop He created, having their own private devotionals, than in a crowded sanctuary in which the topic is chosen by someone else. Others prefer to host gatherings in their home with fellow members, and using their gifts of hospitality and leadership is where they feel strongest in their faith.
Could it be that early Christians were on to something when they met under the nose of Roman persecution? Maybe in those stolen moments, communing with like-minded people in an intimate setting of God-centered joy was a good way to cultivate a personal faith. Maybe deep fellowship in which we can delve into serious, pressing, or important topics and participate in active worship and devotion is the key to unlocking a closeness with our faith and deeper connection than we’ve ever been able to experience before.
I’ve often heard it said that people don’t like sermons because they’ve heard them all before, or every message is the same and they feel their time could be better spent elsewhere. For some, church is a difficult place to venture into when it is stuffy and anxiety-inducing. And for even more church is artificial, filled with sinners who are quick to judge and messages that fall hollow.
But maybe “church” isn’t a place. Church, or at least the earliest ideas of it, is a breathtaking body of unique and spectacular individuals who can aid in cultivating each other’s faith through genuine fellowship and further the love of Christ out in the world to all their fellow humans. Church isn’t a wooden sanctuary filled with itchy pews. It’s the men, women, and children dedicating their life to God and His community. Church isn’t a place. It’s a people.
