What makes the church “real church”?

               For some folks, it’s the music. And let me tell you — people have opinions. There’s one group so terrified of musical instruments that they’ve practically installed TSA checkpoints at the sanctuary doors. They’re convinced someone is going to smuggle in a harmonica and unleash chaos. They won’t even use a pitch pipe to find the F#. They just let you wander around the scale like a lost hiker hoping to stumble across it.

               Then you’ve got the organ people. But not just any organ — oh no. It must be a pipe organ, preferably older than Methuselah, and it must sit on the right side of the sanctuary. If it’s on the left, apparently the Holy Spirit can’t find it.

               And of course, there are the guitar-and-drum folks who believe that unless the music comes with a beat strong enough to rattle the stained glass, it’s not sanctified. Some will even tell you Handel’s Hallelujah Chorus was the original praise song. And honestly, if you sing it, you’ll notice it’s seven words repeated eleven times — so maybe they’re onto something. Meanwhile, some of you are convinced the only thing worth repeating is the chorus of a hymn. I’m just grateful I pastor a church where both kinds of “real church music” can coexist without anyone calling the liturgical police.

               Then there’s preaching. For some, it’s only a real sermon if the preacher never looks at a note. He should trust the Spirit to give him the words — preferably in the exact order he needs them. I went to seminary with a guy who said he didn’t believe in seminary degrees because “God could use his ignorance.” And let me tell you, God had plenty to work with.

               Others think real preaching requires vestments, a manuscript, and a monotone voice that could lull a caffeinated squirrel to sleep.

               Some folks think real church happens when the Spirit moves so powerfully that people roll down the aisle throwing hymnals out the windows. Others believe real church requires decorum so strict you’d think the ushers were trained by Buckingham Palace.

               I once visited a church in college where they pulled out a box of snakes. Real snakes. They said it was a sign of real church. I said it was a sign that I needed to find the nearest exit and possibly create a new one.

               So what makes the church “real church”?

               You do.

               Real church isn’t about the instruments, the preaching style, the posture, the volume, or the number of snakes present. Real church is about showing you God’s love through Jesus Christ. And when you walk into a church — when you bring your story, your hope, your questions, your gifts, your presence — that church becomes real.

               A church becomes real when you participate, when you engage, when you let yourself be loved and let yourself love back. There are plenty of churches in our area ready to show you that Jesus loves you and wants you to have abundant life. But the moment it becomes “real church” is the moment you walk in the door

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