What a Real Church Looks Like

Today I didn't go to church, I was with the church.  

My two friends and I walked into a pretty run down building this morning. The air that filled the place reeked of smoke. The people were wearing clothes that I would sleep in. Many of them were filthy, several of them were homeless, and quite a few were either addicts or recovering addicts. The worship band is a group of six 50+ year olds, with one woman signing every word to every song. It was not the best sound I had ever heard, yet it was. A young man was baptized. The second he came up from the water, the whole place went nuts. If my eyes would have been closed, I would have guessed I was at a concert .Screaming, shouting, yelling, singing, praising God for our new brother in Christ. There was dancing in the isles. People next to me and my friends unashamedly telling us their stories. An old man in front of us struggled to get to his seat because he only had one arm and one leg which was in pretty bad shape. There was a man behind us who brought his own tambourine. He didn't play it to the same beat as the songs, but nobody cared. I look around me as my eyes and heart were overwhelmed with the amount of people that did't have a seat. But it didn't seem to bother anybody. This little building was packed with broken, sinful screw-ups. I was one of them, and I've never felt more at home. Nobody put up a front and made it seem like they had it all together. They were proud of not who they were, but who they had in them. I looked down at what I was wearing and suddenly I was the outcast. The pastor was a recovering alcoholic and interrupted himself several times reminding us he struggled with that. He didn't preach about money or marriage. He preached so that if any unbeliever was there, they knew exactly who Jesus was by the end of it. He took us through several scriptures and walked us through them instead of talking at us about them. "Amens" and "hallelujahs" were shouted from every angle of the room more often than not. I found it easier worshipping with people who knew they were sinners. They proudly wore the title on their forehead, and yet I saw Jesus in them more than those who go to church and claim to have it all together. This was the first church I have found to be living proof of the body of Christ. 

The church is the people, not the building.