HOMECHURCH
Chaelin Jung
I still remember the way my first church smelled—of old
books, the mingling of flowery perfume and smoky cologne,
the sweetness of the donuts left out at the greeting table.
Church: Sunday-best clothes, tithe money from my parents
tucked into the pages of my Bible, and many, many potluck
lunches. Later, church was the building across from my high
school, with a perpetually freezing sanctuary, the cold mandating
we bring jackets even in the thick triple-digit degree
Arizona summers. Church: a place we went to on Sundays for
an hour or so, a small piece of our lives already neatly tucked
away by the time Monday morning had arrived.
The word “church” may conjure up images of a gym that is
rented for Sunday worship or a baroque-style cathedral resonating
with the sound of an august organ. It may be the kind
Sunday school teacher that gave you your first Bible or it may
be the pastor triumphantly brandishing his Bible in the air to
declare the glory of God. Indeed, our perceptions of church
are closely entangled with historical and cultural context.
Sunlight, Kristen Marchetti '22
Today, church can also be digital, and we live with more theological
content available at our fingertips than ever before.
More and more churches are recording their sermons and
making them available online, articles on sites like Desiring
God and The Gospel Coalition discuss seemingly every topic
a Christian could ponder, and, of course, we can listen to
hours and hours of worship music ourselves—all in the comfort
of our walk to class, commute to work, or anywhere with
an internet connection. We live in a cultural moment that prioritizes
convenience and independence over all else. So at this
moment, what is the role of the church? Or rather, what should
be the role of the church, and why should we love it?
The Bible offers two pictures of the church: the body and the
bride.
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