What happened on Pentecost?

How many children's sermons have you seen where we sing Happy Birthday to the Church on Pentecost? How many coffee hours have had birthday cake (liturgically speaking this should be red velvet - armadillo shape optional)?

But the Church wasn't really born on Pentecost. Community was.

That what I think we're all doing in our lives - searching for and building up community. That's what makes us cringe at the mainstream. The dominant culture is inwardly focus. I'm not the first to point out that neighborhoods changed when we left the front porch to grill out on the back deck. The unique local is replaced with Starbucks and Applebees. So many *** Applebees.

The question "What is Church" may be an interesting topic for discussion, but I don't think it gets to the heart of the issue. Church is too corruptible. It is an institution. It falls prey to its own bureaucracy (said the one being grinded up on the wheels of the church's bureaucracy). But community is different. It is not its own beast - it is not a power or principality. It is people.

We can work with people. We can have conversations with people. We could even talk with the chuckle-head in Seattle about homelessness if he'd ever sit down with us.

But that's the other thing. We put ourselves in like-minded communities. I don't think Americans care about what hymnal we sing from or what the church says about abortion. All we care about is feeling safe in our community.

Casey Treat creates a community that gives the illusion of being safe. He's only talking about unemployment because he doesn't believe anyone in his church is dealing with unemployment. They aren't part of the community. So he can say whatever he wants and the community isn't really invested.

Of course, we see the fallacy in all of this. He's lying to himself and his community if he thinks unemployment and homelessness doesn't touch their lives - especially in a freakin' megachurch. He's trying to create an Applebees community. No local variety. No flavor, come to think of it. Decent drinks but who wants to drink at Applebees?

We come in, eat our crappy food, and leave full but unsatisfied. We can do better.

"Semper Ecclesia Reformandi"