Last night I went to a local traditional church. I withhold the name to protect the innocent.
Honestly I went in with my mind wide open because I was riding such a wave from the morning that I wanted to continue it by worshipping Christ in the evening at another church with people I don't know and who don't know me. For the most part, this did happen. I wanted to share however, some of my other thoughts that apply to all of us... not simply this environment in which I found myself last night.
I walked into their sanctuary which seats about 1,000. I was the only person in there under 55 and by me coming in we had a total of about (I didn't count) 20 people. Then we turned in our hymnals to the number at hand and started to sing.
(not the church I visited)
Can I just tell you... I haven't had to read a hymnal in so long that I honestly got lost and confused. I grew up in a church that did nothing but hymnals. I remember admiring the men in the church who could project their voice and climb the scales... I remember saying "Lord, please give me a voice like that so I can praise you that way." But here I was now a veteran church leader and I couldn't put two lines together. I kept trying to read the song like a book. Each time I just sounded stupid. So I stopped.
About 3 songs in a young woman in her early 30's came in. She was dressed trendy and seemed like she'd easily fit among our crowd. It was strange but for me my observation of the church changed. I started to wonder "If this woman just got in an argument with her family and came to the nearest church to try and clear her mind and hear from God... I wonder what this service will say to her?" Now I don't know anything about her and I didn't ask... but what I observed was hymnals that were hard to read and all of the songs were played in the lowest key on the organ.... They were the most dry songs on the planet supposedly about "joy". One song said: "God put a song of joy in my heart"... I thought "Maybe, but not this one!"
I stopped myself and kept trying to get back on the highway of 'church' when I kept getting cut off by the vibe of the experience. The Pastor then got up to preach and because I know the scripture I was able to understand where he was trying to go but he went around his tail to get to his face.
Think about this:
You stop at a gas station in your neighborhood. As you wait in line you overhear the cashier give directions to a place you know well. As you hear the directions you're thinking "no way... that place is like 3 blocks east and you just gave them directions that will send them on a 25 minute drive!" That to me is what we do in ministry when we confuse people with 58 points along the way. Yes it's likely true but was it necessary? Many times our messages would be over in 20 minutes if we studied the text. There were likely no less than 10-12 points that had no apprent connection... all to get to a point he could have made in 2 sentences. There were a bunch of stories about himself and honestly on several points I thought "How did you pull THAT from what we just read?"
Anyway... then the end of the service came and we were asked for prayer requests. This made me sad. Lots of well meaning folks asked for short prayers and everything was included together as one big "Here you go God!" type of prayer before dismissal. The service was billed as "Prayer and Praise". There was no praise for what I could see and absolutely next to nothing for prayer. These two events were buffered by a 40 minute sermon on 'joy'.
I learned a lot and my intentions are not to ride this particular church at all. Everything I've described can and probably does happen in our context. Difficulty following the music, long messages with rambling (none of you do that I'm sure) and a disconnect with the audience... these are things that happen with stained glass, projectors or even cool post-everything churches. We can all be guilty of these things no matter our environments.
In fact, regardless of what you may or may not see in my entry for today, I WILL be going back on other Sunday nights. For Worship. The cool thing about my spirtual life is that I can worship anywhere with anyone. For all of the things I observed, I still communicated with God tonight and enjoyed seeing a different taste of heaven.
Finally:
Someone asked me the other day: "Do you plan to get a building of your own one day?"
I said "I don't know but I really don't know that I want one." Sure, there are a lot of things that would be "easier" on a Sunday but think about this. Each week when Christians and Selfians collide... someone WILL BE uncomfortable. Why is it that the Christians want to make the Selfians uncomfortable? Why can't the Christians say "If someone has to be uncomfortable in this transaction, let it be us. I'm okay with letting my saved family do church in a theater with beer ads all around." The way those beer ads hit many church goers is the same way a stained glass window, a tie, or hymnals hits the Selfians. If I KNOW there will be SOMEONE uncomfortable... I want it to be our church members and attendees. Let it be me! If it will allow my selfian friend to see Christ in his own context... so be it.
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