Worth writing on our hearts, why church?

Two days ago I reflected on the "We" in the following quote from Stephanie Paulsell, "We need places to pray as if someone were listening, to study as if we might learn something worth writing on our hearts, to join with others in service as if the world might be transformed. Churches are places to learn to practice, with others, a continual conversion of life, a permanent openness to change." Today, my mind - well actually my heart - is dwelling on "...to study as if we might learn something worth writing on your hearts..." Study often narrows our focus to right information, right ideas, correct side of the ideology spectrum. Study too often is narrowly defined by correcting a deficiency, filling a void, learning to catch up. Study in the church and in community is not to catch up but rather to catch on. Study is to connect information in our minds with our hearts to form us in Christ's life. Study is not a text but a testing of where the goodness of God makes a home in us. As those in church we can and should hold different and diverse ideas in our heads even as we appreciate that those written on our hearts determine who we are.

Why Church?

The following quote answers for me "Why do you go to church?" "We need places to pray as if someone were listening, to study as if we might learn something worth writing on our hearts, to join with others in service as if the world might be transformed. Churches are places to learn to practice, with other, a continual conversion of life, a permanent openness to change." Stephanie Paulsell, from "Soul experiments," Faith Matters in the Christian Century. The message begins with a "We." Why church for me is always about a We - there is just not enough of my own spirituality that can fill all the world with God. I need the We to embrace all of God. And the "We" is gathered in shared prayer that has movement, structure, music, silence, emotion and thought. I need the dynamics of worship to open for me the tiny facets of God. And the the "We" is about listening. If God is listening to all of us, then what "We" share with God is a mere speck of sand in the vast beauty of God's restful short. I need the "We" to feel part of the ecology of God's creation. Tomorrow...something worth writing on our hearts.