i decided to pick these up again… at least for now
Does the way we sit in church say anything about us?
We come in to every meeting and face up toward the front.
We turn neither to the right or the left to see those around us.
We sing to the walls and the back of people’s heads.We do so much in the name of “order.”
I don’t see Jesus as being so fixed forward that he couldn’t see the cares of those around him.
I don’t see Jesus as being so ordered that he missed the opportunity to meet with God and express freely his thoughts.I see Jesus as being someone who did whatever it took to get close to God, and Close to other people.
I see Jesus as someone who challenged the order of the rules that men had set up – the religion that people had made for themselves.I see the Jesus who overturned the tables.
I see the Jesus who told the Pharisees their righteousness didn’t quite cut it.I see the Jesus who looked at people whose lives were mired
in sin
and death
and pain –
the people who sat outside the rows of Church-Goers
and said
“They won’t let me in…”I see that Jesus come up to them,
and almost with a sad sort of smile say,“It’s ok. They won’t let me in either.”
I meet with a group of guys on Monday nights, and a couple of weeks ago our topic centered on the things that bring us close to God. There were tons of answers – fishing, playing the guitar, singing – but out of 6 of us, none of us said church.
It wasn’t an angry response or one that says we want to throw the whole thing out, but I think in many ways it was an honest evaluation. I believe there are many reasons why the six of us don’t really feel spiritually connected during church, and I would be lying to say that none of them involve us and our personalities.
But in a larger sense, I think we need to begin to ask ourselves some real questions about how many people really do connect to God in our services. I’m not suggesting purely a change in methodology – I think that’s much more a change in marketing than it is in product substance – but rather a shift in purpose and intent. What is the purpose we have for our church, and for ourselves?