The
Musings 28
Saturday,
February 9
Read:
Acts 2: 42-47
Church is
diverse. This diversity can occur because of one race, culture and the way we
express our faith. However, what unites the diversity in the church is its
allegiance to the Lordship of Jesus Christ. But look at the new "church"
that has been formed in London. The people who long to come to the church has
no relationship nor do they express their allegiance to Lord Jesus Christ on
the contrary they claim they want to be a part of a community where you don't
have to put God in it. But they want to be a "Church". Thus, last Sunday
in London the members of first Atheist Church gathered at a place called The
Nave, which was formerly a church, now turned into a performance space. This is in place called Islington, in North
London. The founders of this unique
atheist church are two comedians Sanderson Jones and Pippa Evans. This church
is called as "The Sunday Assembly". They meet on the first Sunday of
every month. In fact in the first month of January, when the news was announced
about 200 people joined for the assembly, while this month when they met again, around 300 people turned up, forcing the organizers
to send those people who did not get a seat, to a nearby bar so that they can
view the live proceedings on a TV. The whole concept of Sanderson and Pippa
Evans was basically to bring people together, who are loosing their religious
faith, to be connected together as a community. Though the congregation
comprises of non believers the focus of the Sunday Assembly is in no way to
demean people of other faith. They have focus each time they meet together. The
focus of this month assembly was "to live better, help often, and wonder
more". The way they conducted the assembly was also something like that
happens in the church. The assembly began with band led by Pippa Evans. Songs
like Stevie Wonder's superstition was some of the songs that they sang. Following
this there as talk by a guest speaker who spoke on the theme of wonder. Wonder
about why the galaxy exist or why does
human being exist. The existence of all these things is related to matter. He
also explained about the discovery of Higgs Boson, the so called God's
Particle. After the talk, the focus was once again was on singing and
fellowship. One of the refrains from the people who attended this atheist
church was that they were missing the music and the community experience that
they had during their childhood as they attended church. This was also a
complaint that Jones also mentioned and he wanted the singing and the feeling
of community to be rediscovered again. Next time they meet they wanted to focus
on the theme "Lend a Hand". This theme has been selected so that the
people who come to attend the atheist church will lend a helping hand to make
the world a better place. The leaders of the atheist church feels that it is
the commitment to the society that is actually bringing more and more people to
the Sunday assembly. Both Jones and Evans are happy at the success of the
formation of atheist church or the Sunday assembly and they would want to start
an additional Sunday also in the near future and also set up a You Tube
channel so that people around the world can view the Sunday assembly. One of
the truths that we can learn as to why people are flocking to such diverse
group of community is that they miss the fellowship, the feeling of community
and the joy of singing. They miss the feeling that faith is all about
expressing ones faith in the community. Looking at the Sunday assembly or the
atheist church, what is it that we who belong to a Church can incorporate or
what are the corrections that we need to make in the way we express our faith.
It is in Acts you find the beginning
of early church. In the early chapters in Acts you find some unique features
about the members of the church. In Acts
2: 42-47, you find the life style of the believers of the early church. What is
it that connected the believers in the early church and does these connection
still unite or exist in the church today?. The unifying force of all the believers
to come together was their new found faith in Jesus Christ. It was their
response to the message of the gospel that united the believers together. [Acts
2:41]. I think what the Sunday assembly in London is missing is the
relationship with Jesus Christ. Church becomes a church only when people are
united and are committed to Jesus Christ. When Jesus Christ is absent or if the
people who belong either to Atheist Church or the Marthoma Church do not have a relationship or commitment to
Jesus Christ then, the gathering that you have on Sunday is not a community of
believers nor the church it could be termed just an assembly or a social club.
I think many of the church's today has degenerated into another social club and
that is where we members of both the Marthoma Church and also the Atheist Church
needs to be aware and consciously change,
so that church does not degenerate into another social club but to a fellowship of believers, who
have a commitment to Jesus Christ. Another unique aspect that you find in the
early church was that they always experienced joy and a sense of fellowship as
they met in different homes. They were
also filled with a sense of wonder with the miracles that happened in the lives
of people [something similar to the theme of wonder that was expounded at the
atheist church]. They also praised God with singing and psalms and they consciously
saw to it that the faith that they practiced was witnessed in their both
personal life and corporate life. In Acts 2: 45, we find that they sold
everything and gave to others according to their need. Here is a community of
early believers who have an enthusiasm and joy as they met together to worship.
Here is a group of believers who wanted the community to be helped and wanted
the community to know that they their new found faith is not something that is very
exclusive type of meeting and worship but on the contrary living out the faith in the community. I think one of the aspects that drives people
out of the church especially the young people is that today when we meet on Sunday's
, for may people it is more of a social obligation rather an set apart time to
express our commitment or renew our commitment to our Lord, expressed by
participating in worship. Moreover even while participating in worship we do
not build up the feeling of community or fellowship and more than that, nor are
we concerned on how to make our worship service meaningful, and joyous. Moreover
our Christian commitment is something that we feel we should show only on Sunday's
without its expression in our community. As more and more people seek new definitions
about church, and are getting disillusioned, let us a community of believers bring about the desired changes in our
fellowship and in our concept of worship so that church truly reflects the joy
and fellowship that the believers should truly have. Otherwise don't be
surprised if you find another atheist
church coming in your neighborhood.
