How do you see Church?

This week I got an interesting glimpse into how others might see church. It happened on Monday morning. A family dropped in that had left a few things at church. I caught the mother and daughter as they were looking through the sanctuary.

I let the mom know that there were some things turned into me that probably belonged to their family. As we walked to my office the mother quizzed me about what was left. She did not care about the clip boards and books, but wanted to know if there was a few hand drawn sheets. I told her I had not seen any with the group.

When we grabbed the materials she quickly went through them and found this "priceless" thing that she was hoping for. What it was was a small comic book that her daughter had made. The comic book was titled "Church". She pulled it out and had her daughter explain and show me this twenty page masterpiece.

As I flipped through the pages, I realized just how priceless the comic book was. This was a rare look into how a young child sees church. There were pages that we would expect to see like "Sunday School" and "Kid's Club". What I did not expect to see was the detailed drawings of Cathy, our pastor, preaching. There was pictures of our choir director, Jeremy, leading the choir in singing. Our little artist captured other scenes like "Coffee hour", "Communion", and service projects like "Tent City".

She had noticed more of the different components that make up church than most adults would see. There were details that she included that most adults do not see like in the preaching picture she had even the letters "IHS" that hang from the cloth on the podium. These letters stand for "Jesus" in early greek (or "Jesus Savior of Men"). How many would pick this up this?

Our church has had many discussions since I have been there about what is going on in church. We have asked the adults about the programs when trying to decide on our mission statement. I asked our confirmation class and mentors about the activities in church that we live out our faith. During a "Enrichment hour" I asked the older generation in our church how does the church offer/support intentional faith development. Most of these discussions had the groups struggle to get past two or three programs. Even in that they focus on what they participate in. Then I see a five year old girl understand the many different ways of intentional faith development offered in the church. Not only that, but she pulls out the details and relationships within the different activities.

After discovering this amazing comic it left me with the question of how I see church. There are many different things that I get wrapped up in because I work there, yet I wonder how well I see God. My little student was able to pick up on so many little things and articulate through a comic that church was an important joyful place for her. Could I say the same? Do I notice the efforts, relationships, and little miracles that are present there? Do I understand how important church is for my life and relationship with God?

There is a passage that comes directly to mind right now:

Matthew 18:2-4 (New International Version)

²He called a little child and had him stand among them. ³And he said: "I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. ⁴Therefore, whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.

With all these simple questions that I could try and rationalize and explain in difficult ways, this passage reminds me to just come before God. There are so many lessons that we could take away from my little five year old student. Now though I believe we need to keep it simple. To humbly acknowledge our reliance on God and His community at church. To slow down and enjoy the little joys and miracles that the LORD presents us.