I had the opportunity to visit a church last weekend. It was a surprisingly big church and felt rather comfy until we got hounded by two leaders of the church. It felt as though they tried to immediately assimilate us into their culture. We were at the church, so we must be church people. Despite the crappiest music ever, not just in selection, but also in congregational response; and a sermon that took one verse dealing with following hard after GOd alone and then some how jumped onto a soap box of of talking about Pre-marital sex, the unchurched couple we were with didn't have a good experience. I wonder why, gee I don't know, I guess some people just aren't ready to hear from GOd.
I have been jumping from anger and sadness as result of going to that church. I cannot say this without sounding like a mega/ seeker sensative church lover, or a gen X-tradition hater, or whatever othe adjective falls into this category, but what the crap? I is tearing me up to think that individual churches feel it is OK not to follow the call of the Lord. I have been trying to pay attention t o different churches to get a vibe of how we are doing, and it is not all that good. I am a part of a church that is growing, whose people are passionate and spreading the gospel, but I look around and see so many other who are not. They instead focus on their services, or their classes, or what will make people more comfortable. I don't want to be where a church is trying out new things with the same lifeless motions. I would just a soon go someplace that sings "Blessed be the tie that binds" and "love lifted me" and on fresh days, "Lord I lift your name on high" as long as the people are on fire for GOd and are being encouraged to go into the world as well as to grow in t heir faith.
In that service this weekend, I wanted to stand up and scream. I am sure that there are good things happenign in that church, but why do I have to preface all the good things about that church weithin the bigger church, before I say " shame on you for not being so passionate about Jesus that it oozes off of you onto everyone around you." That was the shorter version of a longer rant.
The Secret We Can't Talk About
11 years ago
2 comments:
Ok, fine but "Lord I Lift Your Name On High"? Let's not get carried away.
In my opinion, Christians today are so bogged down with "There are those who preach the gospel out of selfish ambition and vain conceit, but what does it matter? The gospel is being preached, and for that I rejoice and I will continue to rejoice." and we don't get bogged down enough in, "Remember the height from which you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first. If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place." I think we need to have a healthy balance of the two. It is not enough for us to say "Shame on you church." We need to be genuinely happy that the gospel is being preached. But, we should not content ourselves with that. I think it is perfectly okay for us to have legitimate tirades focused on illegitimate churches offering illigetimate worship. After all, Aaron's own sons were burned alive for offering unauthorized fire. Are we not worshipping the same God? What happened to our fear?
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