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I threw the word ‘Church’ around a bit in my last post. I feel the definition I am using may be non-standard to say the least. In the traditional sense, a church is building with a congregation and faith. Church the word is loaded with connotations positive and negative. Church for many people is a stodgy, judge place to be generally avoided and only attended grudgingly with the relatives on important occasions.

My father always says that the real point of church is not Jesus, or Miracles, or other things a 21st century person views with skepticism. Church instead is fellowship and friendship. It is a place to see those you love and who you care for and in turn care for you. Church is the other side of family. At its best, Church lifts us up each week and encourages us to do today what makes the world better tomorrow.

For me, church is not simply a building or a faith. Church is the fire in your heart that you share in fellowship with your neighbors. We may not be strong enough to stand against the storm alone, but together as a church we can survive and thrive. A church does need a shared belief to bind us together, but as the aforementioned 21st century skeptic, I do not require miracles or brimstone to convince me. My faith, and the faith the faith of my church, is to come together once a week. It is to do today what makes the world better tomorrow. It is agreement to attempt to be good and to always be asking what good really is and really means.

So when I say ‘Church’, I do not just mean Catholics or Lutherans or any other specific faith. I mean any group of the likeminded who work to improve our world whether that is a coding club or a group that feeds the homeless or any of the other countless civic organizations that work tirelessly to leave a better world for our children than the one our parents left for us.