Roman Holiday- What is the Church?

In my Humanities course one of the required readings was about Bonhoeffer's time abroad in Italy. It was really cool to read his experiences in his time away because I related to a lot of his thoughts. One of the biggest impacts studying abroad had on Bonhoeffer was the idea of the church. I'm not just talking about a church or the church someone attends. I'm talking about "the church" universally. When he went to Italy he experienced the presence of God in a Catholic church. He enjoyed and soaked up every minute of it. See, he had been raised in Germany where it was mostly Lutheran. The ideals and structure of different dominations were not mixed.

As I read the article it brought memories and thoughts that I have had even in the last few weeks of being in Paris. I love learning how the church works here and how it is structured. The experiences I have had during worship are hard to even describe. My faith has been challenged and my ideals on how I view the church have changed. The presence of God here is still the same God that I know and love even in a different culture.

One paradigm that God is slowly changing in my heart is the way I view church. As I travel and learn about different cultures the more I realize that God is not boxed into the structure and set up of American churches. Let me explain, it is so easy to get caught up in

our comfort zone (also I am speaking from a point of view of American culture because of being raised in it. I'm sure other cultures experience it as well). In America we have this view that we don't need to be immersed into different cultures or learn from them, especially in church.

God is showing me that the church is something so much more than I could ever imagine. He is bringing me completely out of my comfort zone while being here. I understand and speak very basic French so when I attend church services there might be worship songs that I have never heard of before or sermons that I might only understand a few phrases. It is challenging and works my brain to the maximum and then some but I absolutely love it. I love it because God is showing me that the church is universal. The church is not separate cultures under one God. The church is all the nationalities praising and worshiping the One God. We are all brothers and sisters in Christ.

It is amazing to see God speaking and challenging me even in the services here. My mind is completely blown away by how He meets my needs and uses the services and people to speak to my heart. I am excited to see God change and expand my worldview while I am here, especially on how I view the church.