I just read this post and this is almost 100% exactly the sentiment I have been coming to over the past several months. It's almost like I could have written it myself! The concept of not just doing church but being the church, being the incarnate Christ to one another and to our community, and really being a community of believers knit together where our lives just don't intersect on Sunday morning and no other time during the week.... These ideas are definitely moving me outside my comfort zone of how I've known and done church for years, but I know that Jesus wants so much more for His Church that what we are now.

I just glanced down to read one of the other comments: "Connecting on a deep level takes time and trust." That is definitely true, yet as we set the stage for being vulnerable, others will step out in faith and do the same. We as believers take for granted the Christian fellowship we have with one another. As we see our sinfulness and are honest about that before our Heavenly Father and come to value the redemption we have in Christ more and more, only then can we begin to feel the freedom to be honest with one another and take off our masks. I have just read Life Together by Dietrich Bonhoeffer, and am in the process of re-reading & digesting it. I would recommend it highly. We in the American church do not value Christian community as we ought, and do not really begin to see the blessings God has for us when we do become vulnerable and open with one another. I know there is so much more to it than that and in my journey, I am only beginning to scratch the surface in understanding I believe God has for me and for His Church.

Let's all be praying for God to light a fire in the Church and especially for the leadership of our churches.