Church is home to me. A space where I can be myself, uncontained and unashamed while coming to Jesus in fellowship with other believers and friends.
I walked into church for the first time this week in my pyjamas, but I wasn’t where you’re all probably thinking. I was in my friends’ room in the girl’s dorm where I live. A group of friends all sitting on the desk, the bed and any spare piece of floor that can be found. We converse; sharing stories from our day, making jokes and just doing life together. These moments are where fellowship, community and love are manifested in such a real way for me.
I went to church again, earphones in, and laptop open as I watched life buzz around me. Friends studying together, a barrister making coffee, and our campus chaplain floating in and out of the café connecting with people as he went. This looks a lot like church to me.
For the third time already this week I found myself in church and more than ever I need to be here. Lying on my friends’ bed with tears in my eyes after receiving bad news. Church is a place I can come and find family, find comfort, find God and that is exactly what I need right now.
I have been in church all week, dining with my college community, praying about our futures with family and friends, dancing in a weekly lifegroup, and even through meeting new people I found myself in a space that I call church.
It has come to the end of the week and I am greeted with welcoming signs and smiling faces as I walk into this building conventionally referred to as a ‘church’. As time passes the rows of chairs inside fill up with all of these people that I have been doing life with through the week. We listen and then stand and sing together of how good our God is and of his love for us. It is almost as if all of my church experiences have been leading up to this ONE. This time and place creates an environment where all of my experiences in ‘church’ from the week mesh perfectly to produce one picture to encompass the meaning of the word CHURCH. You see, this is church, but this isn’t the only church experience we should have or rely on. Instead, church should be as accessible as calling a family member or sharing a meal with your neighbour as you go about your daily business.
So, outside of the building that we gather in on Saturdays, where is church for you?
“For where two or three gather in my name, there I am with them.”
Matthew 18:20
WRITER: Deanna Patrick, student at Avondale.