This post isn’t about people not attending church, it is about the attitude in which they attend church. Why am I thinking about this topic today? Because of a statement that was made to me yesterday–
An individual that attends both our established church and our church plant came up to me and said, “I think you do a better job preaching at The Ark (the church plant). You seem more relaxed.”
Now I have also noticed that I do seem to maybe flow a little better at “The Ark” but I’ve always looked at if from the perspective of, “well I’m preaching the message for the third time that day, it should be better.” But his next statement struck me…
“I think its because you know that everyone WANTS to be here, so there isn’t the critical spirit accompanying them, they just want to be here and learn.”
As I am sitting here on Sunday I am thinking about that statement & realizing there may be more truth to it than I’d like to admit.
Do people still (they did back in the day b/c it was the community connecting point) come to church for any other reason than want?
Is it guilt?
Is it societal expectation?
Is it habit?
Is it a social gathering?
Is it entertainment?
Is it an emotional response?
Is it family pressure?
Is it because the pastor has harrassed enough?
Is it because “this is just what we do?”
If it is anything other than a desire to deeply connect with God, and I am speaking here of those who claim to be Christians not guests or explorers of faith, if it is anything other than a desire to engage with the almighty is that satisfactory worship?
I think of the text in Revelation 3
So there seems to be the expectation within my praticular faith community, that if you support women’s ordination, believe drums are okay, and didn’t like the tone of the Presidential sermon at our General Conference Session back in June/July of 2010 then you are also against the General Conference Presidency of Ted Wilson.
Why?
What bothers me most about this expectation is that it so deeply reflects the politics of our culture! I’m pro-life, “Oh so you’re a Republican.” I’m anti-guns, anti-death penalty, “Oh so you’re a Democrat.” But wait, what if you’re all of those then what are you?
We have become a nation that tries to force people into boxes and against specific individuals based on a select few issues. And it seems the church is trying to do the same, which is unfortunate because when the church mimics the world it looks a lot less like Jesus and a lot more like the devil!
So yes, Elder Wilson and I disagree on women’s ordination, I haven’t agreed with several of his comments on music, I wasn’t particularly thrilled with his opening speech, and YES, I’m glad he is our General Conference President!
Why shouldn’t I be? Because of those issues?
I struggle with a certain wing of our church, many of whom are my friends, that are always sounding the cry for tolerance and yet the language used towards Ted Wilson and the open support and hope of his removal from office show absolute intolerance!
Y’all we are not Washington D.C. We are a church. A church that NO ONE is forced to be a part of! A church that if a person is a part of, hopefully it is because they believe Jesus is leading the church.
And if we are truly a church then should we not take the same position as David whom though Saul was pursuing him for his very life, David felt guilty about even harming the fabric of Saul’s robe. (That is not a comparison of Ted Wilson to Saul. Ted Wilson is a good & kind man!)
Shame on us if we have become so like the world and the world’s politics we fail to accept our leadership, which God has established, based on a few varying points of view.
I pray our Spectrum of tolerance grows us into acting more like a church and less like a political party!
I attended a funeral yesterday and in the procession from the church to the graveside I remembered this old post and a great tradition:
“The mother is a teacher, and to a great extent she moulds the character of her children.” (Ellen White, Signs of the Times, July, 1889).
Every morning when we get in the car the boys and I pray together. Today Dayton prayed for a safe trip, a fun day, & “Amen.” He then added, “And please Daddy don’t hit the trash cans (I do sometimes) because they can bleed a lot.”
I responded with, “Dayton, trash cans don’t bleed. They are an inanimate object.”
Yes I use big words like that around my kid, his latest favorite big word is “adultery” because he has been learning the commandments and likes to tell folk how adultery means “to have more than 1 wife, because God only wants us to have 1 wife, but Laban tricked Jacob and gave two daughters. But Jacob loved Rachel not Leah. But then later he loved Leah.”
Back to my story– “Dayton, trash cans don’t bleed. They are an inanimate object.”
Dayton: “Why don’t they Daddy?”
Me: “Because only humans and animals bleed.”
Dayton (verbatim): “Dad what was the first plague God sent on Pharaoh?”
Me: “Turning water to blood.”
Dayton: “Yes Daddy water to blood.”
Me: “You’re right Dayton Moses…”
Dayton: “Not Moses Daddy, Aaron was the one that spoke to Pharaoh.”
He’s 3 years and 6 months today.
Kids will retain and process logically the things we expose them to.
The following are the 10 most viewed posts on this blog for the month of March. Maybe you read them all and want to read again, maybe you missed a few & would like to catch-up, or maybe you’d just like to share one with a friend. And perhaps you want to leave the page now. I’m cool with any of those options 🙂
1. The Porn Pandemic–I woke-up earlier than I normally do one morning and felt impressed to write this blog. Wasn’t really something I planned on writing and the content wasn’t the direction I was thinking of going when I started writing it. But it turned out the way it turned out and several folk have said they appreciated the honesty. In many ways it was written as a Dad with two boys, whom prays for God’s protection over them and God to give me wisdom in how I & my wife can help Him in that endeavor.
2. Bittersweet Moving–Two of our dear church members are moving in late July and the thought of them moving and also the reflections on what I had learned from them compelled me to write this tribute to them & encouragement to pastors & young leaders to be mentored.
3. Val Kilmer & I — This was orginally a post simply for the purpose to encourage encouragement that I wrote in February. It turned into a hit in March on the internet because the web manager of the Official Facebook U.S. fan page of Val Kilmer got a hold of the post and reposted it, due to my uncanny resemblance to said actor. That ended up getting this post a lot of traffic:)
4. Childhood Friday Nights — I love music! I especially love older Christian music & it seems like many others do as well!
5. The Apple Store — I believe churches could learn a lot about “customer” service from secular businesses! This was just another example.
6. 1 For Every 10k — I love church planting, I believe it is the best avenue by which to have mass sustained evangelism!
7. The Negativity Pandemic — I am sick of negativity!
8. Flee the Tiger — One of my members Kay Rizzo has recently published her first ebook. I was excited for her and wanted to help her get out the word.
9. Zechariah’s Beautiful Picture of the Gospel — I love Zechariah 3:1-5 and I wanted to share a couple thoughts in regards to this passage.
10. The Twitter Blessings! — I meant for this to be a compare & contrast of Facebook & Twitter with my views on why I prefer to Twitter. It turned into just a Twitter lovefest!
And those are the top 10 for the month of March & here just for good measure are the top for the first quarter of 2012:
Hope y’all enjoy and would love your feedback!