It is especially true of the idea of fellowship. How easy it is to believe that other Christians in other churches enjoy a greater degree of warmth, acceptance, affection, and support than we do! Most of the complaints about churches have to do with them being cold, impersonal, and self-absorbed. Few of those complaints admit that we are the same way. We tend to expect from others a greater degree of fellowship than we are willing to grant them. Diversity is the goal but it is highly likely that churches have a predominant economic range or marital status or age among the members. It may not be about them being cold or unwelcoming but it may be simply that similar circumstances encourage fellowship. While some of this commonality may be bridged by the liturgical and sacramental churches, it is not entirely absent. The preservation of traditions associated with race, ethnicity, and language were not exclusionary as much as they were attempting to keep what they knew as children.
I wish I could say it was wrong but the complaint about lousy worship is often not far off. We do not put our best foot forward on Sunday morning as we ought. How many of us settle for canned music or poorly written sermons or the like? Turn that around. How many of us dress like we were going to mow the lawn or have our hands permanently attached to our insulated cup or sit around like people waiting to be engaged and entertained? We can come with an attitude as well. I have long said that people will not return if there is nothing to come back to -- but someone always interprets that to mean ceremonies, architecture, music, etc... count more than Jesus. No, that is not what I am saying but if we refuse to put our best foot forward in worship, how much do we really value Jesus? That goes for both sides of the altar rail.
The failure of leadership is not a problem to be put at the pastor's door. We live in times when people want to receive more than they want to give. How many congregations struggle to find even one name to fill the ballot of open offices? How many of the volunteers are those who have been doing the job for eons and now are wearing gray hair? The first job of leadership is recruiting your successor. That is not an ideal but a real goal that ought to be reflected in every congregation. We are in this together, after all. Along with this, bad bishops (DPs). How well do those who supervise churches and church workers know their congregations and their people? I wish it could be said that the best and most faithful are elected bishops but sometimes it is given to people are not so dedicated but willing to do the job. That is not simply their problem but ours.
If you find in the pews apathy and laziness, you will also find indifference to what is taught and ignorance of the faith. It is shocking to see how many folks think that Christianity can coexist with reincarnation or people as chubby little cherubs visiting us on earth or ghost stories or a thousand other things that are neither Biblical nor Christian. Is it the church's fault or the pastor's fault that we are not interested in doctrine or catechesis? That we could not describe our faith or distinguish it from any other church? That we know more about the memes on social media than the apostles, evangelists, and prophets? The devil finds easy prey among those who refuse to dig, learn, consider, and grow in their knowledge of God and of His Word.
If you are going to church to find holiness, let me stop you right there. The Church is no museum of saints. Would that it were. The Church is a hospital for bleeding, wounded, and dying sinners. Their fruits are meager -- especially at first -- and they readily admit that they are sinful and unclean -- still. I wish it were so that Christians were standouts in holiness but we wear Christ's name too casually and need to be regularly urged to walk worthy of our calling and leave behind the ways of sin and death. They come naturally to us and it is hard to learn to walk in the new nature of our baptismal new life so do not mark down the Church too much if it still has sinners in it. Christ came to love, dine with, and lead home sinners by dying for them and living so that they might live.
Let me tell you that every congregation is a work in progress. Every Christian is one also. We do not need to find a perfect place but the place where the perfect love of Christ is proclaimed and His gifts bestowed through Word and Sacrament. We are all the wounded left for dead on the side of the road and Jesus is always bringing us to the inn of His House to bind up our brokenness and make whole again -- no matter what it costs. Be kind. It is not as costly as you think and it will come back to you.
1 comment:
You have made some very thoughtful points about people and churches, and indeed, there is a human tendency to think “the grass is greener” outside of ourselves. Yet, experience is an objective teacher, for those willing to learn from it. Many of us have learned the hard lesson that falling into the delusion that others have it better, and “woe is me, “ that upon closer examination…the grass is not greener. I think the Lord wants us to look realistically at life, not allowing our imaginations or wishful thinking to lull us into an envious mindset. We are to bring these thoughts under control, and extend grace to viewing the struggles of others, and remember that people and churches which seem to have it all together may not. In fact, they may actually be hurting. We need to focus more on how we may grow in grace ourselves, and how we may serve as Christ served. This morning, I was reading Hebrews 12:1, “Therefore, we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us.” Soli Deo Gloria
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