Creating Space

A great question was raised last night among the guys. It went something like this: "When someone walks into our gathering on Saturday night, what makes it look or feel any different than a regular church...we have a structure, there's usually singing, prayer, teaching/discussion...why is that any different than the church experience we all grew up in?"

That's a great question...and one I've pondered a lot in the last three years. As I've thought about it more and more today, I think my response would have more to do with the intent and motivation of our corporate heart than the logistics of structure.

My vision for The River is that our gatherings on Saturday would be an ongoing conversation of what God is doing in our everyday lives the other 6 days of the week. That there would be a "spontaneous combustion" of God-speak happen as we just hang out and talk.

At least that's what it would look like in the ideal spiritual world.

But what happens to the conversation if you haven't heard God this week. Or you believe that your sin and failure have disqualified you from hearing from him...at least for a while. Sometimes life is just hard and the overwhelming nature of living in this world has sucked any desire to talk about God completely out of us.

I know myself. Put me in a room full of people that I love and the first thing comes to my mind to talk about isn't always God. Its the "big game", its how work is going, its how bad the weather has been. Conversation too easily turns to...well, ME and sharing my struggles with anyone who will listen. Granted, we all need safe people to share with but, even in that, I am still the center of the story.

Which is why we need to create space.

We do what we do in our gatherings not because we're "supposed to" sing songs about God when we get together, not because if "we don't have teaching, we haven't had 'church'", not because we're in love with structure, but because, in the midst of our lives, we MUST create the space for God to move that life oftens denies us.

I also don't want to lose sight of the biblical narrative. Structure in the church didn't start when man started to build buildings or write liturgies to follow. We see examples of what we now refere to as structure as early as the Last Supper.

In both Matthew and Mark, we read that, after Jesus and his disciples had taken what we refer to as the "last supper", they 'sung a hymn' and went to the Mount of Olives.

Now, did they take the elements and sing a song because it was written in the bulletin or because that was what they did the week before? Because they were "supposed to"? Because these things were part of their tradition? NO!! These things happened as a spontaneous response because they had created a sacred space for God to move.

Acts 20:7-12 is another instance where there was a type of structure present - it was the first day of the week and people came together to break bread. Its also obvious that Paul was the 'guest speaker' and wanted to give them all God had for them before leaving. There is an element of spontaneity and fellowship in that 'breaking bread' is mentioned twice but it is also obvious that Paul was the "teacher" in this instance. Again, not because it is a prescribed formula but because it was an intentional effort to create space.

There is also the issue of spiritual maturity to consider. We are all at different points on this journey. Without creating a space specifically designed to focus on prayer or the Word or corporate worship, would the conversation naturally turn there? Probably not. Simply because our sin-nature always seeks to turn the spotlight back on us...not God.

So, if one wonders why we have a teaching time, or corporate singing, or prayer time, its not because we're seeking to create structure or seeking to somehow bring an element of control to our gatherings. We're seeking to create space in our own minds and hearts to allow God to do what He wants to do for us every minute of every day...connect with us, help us to open up to Him, help us to open up to each other.

I know myself. And without the intentional effort to create that space, I'm not sure I would go there.