Most of us know what it is like to give up on church. We may do so for many reasons. Boredom, competing interests, hurt feelings, honest questions about faith, conflict with other church members, and the like spring readily to mind. I suspect, though, that the gap between the church's stated aspirations and it's actual, daily life is the major factor.

Consider some of the common ideals of church, the kinds of things we often express in sentences that begin "The church ought to be..."

...the place in which anyone in any condition finds a bit of grace

...the place in which the presence of God is felt

...the place in which ethical behavior is the norm rather than the exception

...the place in which people want to learn to be like Jesus in word and deed

...the place in which all of us are safe

...the place in which all of us learn to shake off self-centeredness in favor of God-centeredness.

We can go on adding to the list, but there's no question that nearly all of us have some personal concept of what the church is meant to be!

The church as we experience it nearly always falls far short of such ideals or aspirations. Friends cling to one another so tightly there's little welcome left for a new comer, members compete for calendar space and budget dollars, conflict develops over nearly anything one might imagine, gossip is raised to an art form, and the various predjudices of broader society go unchallenged and may even be celebrated. No wonder so many decide the church is the last place on earth they would expect to experience the presence, love and transforming power of God!

Here is what I have learned (sometimes in various hard and even painful ways). The church, by which I mean the Body of Christ both in its local and universal expressions, is the only place to experience the kind of God who steps off his throne, rolls up his sleeves, and engages the world as we know it. The theological term for what I have in mind is "Incarnation." Apparently God works in the gap between what ought is and what ought to be. This is messy territory, and it is where the church lives.

The gap between the church's aspirations and its daily life comes with the territory. A church is "successful" when it faithfully remembers what it ought to be, struggles against what it too often is, and manages to close the gap however slightly. No matter the official name of a church, it's real name is "The Church of the Gap."