"Let's go to church"

I was sitting at a matatu stop this morning, when a woman passing by looked me directly in the eye and said, "Let's go to church." Taken aback, I half-chuckled and mananged to mutter "nnmh," a Kenyan sound for agreement. Yet before I could say or do anything else, she was gone. I wanted to call after her, saying that -in fact- I am a Christian, I am going to church, and I am a volunteer missionary here in Kenya for one year. Regardless, I admired her audacity to just blurt out that statement.

And she got me thinking... what does it mean to "go to church"? If church is a community of believers, must everyone that comes first be a Christian? If church is simply a place where the presense of God is felt, then walls, fancy doors, stained-glass windows, a new organ, a steeple or cross aren't necessary. Or is it what Mother Teresa said, "You and I, we are the church, no?" Where do we find church?

I wonder if I'd already been to church. I live in a fairly well-to-do neighborhood, but that doesn't mean I don't see poverty each day. The beggars and street boys are attracted to this area exactly because there are people with money who live here. This morning, I was approached for money by a street kid. He wanted the money for hot tea. I asked if he would like crackers instead. As I reached into my bag, I saw the frisbee I was carrying. An idea popped into my head: Why not toss the frisbee this boy? I asked him if he'd ever thrown one before. He hadn't, but it didn't take him long to learn.

Almost immediately two other boys appeared, one with a bottle of glue in hand, which he'd been sniffing to stave-off the pains of hunger. They eagerly joined our game. And there we were, a well-to-do American tossing frisbee with three street boys in a parking lot that looked like it'd just been shelled. After a short while, I had to be on my way, and so I bid them good-bye, giving each a small packet of Ritz crackers.

I was on my way to church, but I couldn't help thinking: Wasn't this a picture of church?