the rooftop
Tonight we began something new, something exploratory, something that would not be limited by labels, definitions or existing ideas.
Church has been in the making for two thousand years. In ancient Athens ekklesia was the name given to a particular gathering place where men would assemble to deliberate and vote on political matters. Ekklesia in Greek simply means “called out”. Later on the Romans adopted ekklesia into Latin and used it to define a city established by Caesar. When translating Greek in 250BC, the Jews decided to use the same word to mean ‘assembly’ in Hebrew. Today we use this classical Greek word for church. A community, a gathering place, a calling out of people, a city, a place for discussion -all church. Now, jumping many generations ahead when I think of ‘church’, I see large well lit rooms, speakers bolted to walls, a projector, sound men in the back, comfy chairs propped on carpet, a stage, sleek lighting and a well rehearsed band. Something doesn’t feel right.
I can see how Christians before us have moved with the changing tides and cultures. All their work has brought us here; the Christian message very much alive and not at all dated. But I wonder, if Jesus walked into one of the churches in Hong Kong would he make a whip from strips of cut up designer bags and turn the tables of the coffee machines, book stalls and chairs? When did church have a formula for how you do things? When did we have a set time for prayer, worship, sermon? When were these things even timed into a Sunday schedule? Why does it have to happen on Sunday? My questions could go on. I feel like we’re being limited by what we have today. It’s hard to think out of the box and think of new ways to make a church when all you see are copy cats of one another. Slightly different of course, but a mega church and a small house church have many similarities. Songs, power points, chairs, a pulpit of sorts. They may be in various sizes, be technologically different or waver between glam-ness but a lot of the key things are still there.
I’d like to hope that the rooftop will be a calling out of people of the city to break down the walls of what we know. It’s an experiment. We probably won’t figure it out but at least we’re trying and we’re not allowing ourselves to be pushed into a box labelled ‘church’.
Here’s to rooftop church. an experiment.
