I’m not sure this is what CMW had in mind when she started the thread, but these are my thoughts that come out of the title and a few of the existing comments.
First. What does “church life” mean? I never heard this phrase before or after the LC. What do we think is 1) theoretically intended and 2) practically meant by this term?
I do not have a full answer, but I can say that to the extent that it was about centering your life around your “church” experience, there is both value and error in that thought. If your church experience is where you are mainly reaching to God, worshipping, learning, growing, etc., then having this move into all of your life is a vast improvement. Surely our life is intended to be fully engulfed such that we are no longer the ones directing our lives, but Christ that lives in us. Of course this is what everyone else calls the Christian life. If this is the purpose of the term, then it falls squarely into the realm of a new term for an old but real experience that all of Christianity experiences (to the extent that they are actually growing — same as it applies to the LC to the extent that they are growing). That is valuable, but needs no special term, especially when the result seems to be claiming something that others who merely have the “Christian life” do not have.
But there is error in the thought if it is intended to mean that there is something so special about the corporate practices of the LC. If it means strictly your impression of your way of “doing church” then all serious Christians have a glorious church life. It may not be swinging from the rafters fun, always overtly joyous, or so openly participatory as the LC. But glory is not joy. Glory is not forms. Glory is not excitement. Glory is not bubbly enthusiasm. Glory is “praise, honor, or distinction extended by common consent.” Glorious is “possessing or deserving glory.” (definitions from M-W online dictionary) There may be a lot of talk about praising and worshipping God, but it seems that the glory is typically being given to the church. What is this about? I know. Someone will say “the church is the body of Christ.” But if there is glory in that, it is truly about the potential and not about the present reality. Although we are growing toward the fullness that is truly the body of Christ, it is the Christ that is in that spiritual body that makes it glorious, not the forms or teachings in the practical expression/assemblies that make it glorious.
As for the example of Bret Farve, I think that it is a poor example. Sorry aron, but Bret was not created for one thing — throwing footballs. He chose to become so given to this one aspect o his life and not look forward that when it came for him to move forward, he had no idea where to go. It’s sort of like those guys who retire after a workaholic life and die within two years because they have nothing without their work.
That is not what the Christian life is about. That is not “clearly seen” as the purpose for which man was created. I’m not even sure that the visions in Revelation about angels and/or elders constantly falling prostrate and saying “Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come” is the “purpose of man.” While I’m not sure about the “elders,” the angels were created to do what they do. Further, the times concerning which the scenes written are not the last two chapters. In those chapters we have coming and going through the gates of the city. While full details are not provided, it appears to be more than all of the angels and those who are saved in a huge hall before God endlessly chanting His praises. I think that maybe there is something as hollow in that picture as there is in the one about a “mansion just over the hilltop in that bright land where we’ll never grow old” as we play golf on the best courses, fish in the best streams, or for you geeks, surf the internet on infinite bandwidth (
).
Instead, it may be that a creation with more than one thing to do that still chooses to praise and honor God and started by making that choice in the face of extreme duress to ignore God is more of what He wants. And maybe there is some validity to the notion that the New Jerusalem is as much about restoration of the situation in Eden, albeit at a completely different level, as it is about a gathering to Heaven to chant praises. In other words, the non-stop praising is not really what God wants. He already has that. If that was the point, then why bring Heaven to earth with a city having gates and streets and leaves to heal nations?
Maybe the only thing “glorious” about the church is not the “church life” but the Christ that is displayed by its participants as they gather to worship (however they do it) and spread out into the community the rest of the time living a life that truly loves their neighbor.
I read the blog of a friend recently who told of visiting a relative’s Presbyterian church when visiting Chattanooga. They expected to observe nothing spiritual. But they decided to see it from God’s perspective and saw 500 people who lifted their voices to read a genuine prayer of thanksgiving and repentance, among other things. They still do not chose the Presbyterian way, but they now recognize that the glory is in God and not the service, the style, or the teachings.