Cineplex Christian

Awhile ago, me and my girlfriend went to watch this movie. It was this new flick called 'Street Kings'. I'm not really going to blog about the movie, but just the experience watching it. Well as you may know going out to the cineplex, its sort of a given, knowing that there would at least be some people watching the flick as well (DUH!). So, we were watching the movie with other people (none that i know of) but yet we were all experiencing the same environment. Watching the same movie, hearing the same thing, and experiencing the same technical complications that you get from watching movies in Miri, it's cineplex i mean.

As the story goes, there were parts that suddenly went blank, and some parts where you just couldn't hear the sound of the conversation the characters were making. And sure enough, there were groans and wails (me included). There was this uncanny togetherness that the crowd echoed. We were one with each other via the movie.

But as soon as the lights went on, and the movie came to an end, the engagement with the people also stopped. Everyone were strangers we soon realized, even after everyone sort of unanimously agreed that the quality we expected from the cineplex were not met. Well that's just in the theater right? Well i wish it was true.

Sometimes church feels this way. Like going to the cineplex. Sure we are all connecting with God, but as soon as the closing prayer is met with an amen, people become strangers. We like the saying that we go to church to get connected to God. But that is not the whole truth. The word church, actually talks about community, the church is the community of God's people, coming together and experiencing God together. Doing church is not an individual thing, its a relational thing. We get engaged with God with other brothers and sisters.

Lets get out of doing church as "cineplex Christians" but as the community of God's people experiencing God together.