tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329600504016968888.post494153388286914386..comments2024-03-27T15:47:46.091-05:00Comments on Pastoral Meanderings: Going to church. . . why bother?Pastor Petershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10653554256101480140noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329600504016968888.post-52077057172088907162018-06-01T19:58:50.634-05:002018-06-01T19:58:50.634-05:00Anonymous wrote:
"Seekers by nature are care...Anonymous wrote:<br /><br />"Seekers by nature are careful and critical, watching everything the church leader does not wanting to be misled, measuring everything with their reason and therefore ready to bail when their intelligence is insulted."<br /><br />People hurt by the megachurch experience: They are wounded by other members of their small groups; they are upset after finally realizing that the pastors really are "making things up," for shock value and to reveal "special insight" that the early church fathers allegedly did not have; or they burn out from hearing shallow, law-pounding "how to" sermons every week. Those factors would make anyone bitter. They would conclude that pastors are all frauds.<br /><br />"Hoping to meet someone to date?"<br /><br />Well....for many people, yes. Young people tend to shy away from joining small congregations. Big ones tend to have more eligible single people. The success rate from pursuing such a strategy is another story.....<br /><br />"Do church plant pastors confront them with their sin and preach the Law enough to make them understand they’re in danger or are they too busy answering anonymous text messages sent during the worship “service?” "<br /><br />My former LCMS church planting pastor once told me: "Hynmals are for old people." The language in the hymnal is too 18th century archaic, and who wants to sing along to a paper book that feels like a dictionary?<br /><br />A sister-in-law once told me that she does not need church if she has a bible at home to read. The problem with that method is that it is too easy to be distracted by other things (the dog, the kids, the dishes, surfing the internet). I seriously doubt she reads her bible on a regular schedule.<br /><br />I too am guilty of relying more on Lutheran podcasts for my theology than on the Sunday service. The Sunday service is only one hour a week. I listen to at least three hours of Lutheran podcasts every week. However, in addition to the call for repentance at holy communion, the traditional divine service (Gottesdienst) provides the kind of structure that I cannot make for myself at home.<br /><br /><br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329600504016968888.post-77730502298703878502018-06-01T09:29:47.209-05:002018-06-01T09:29:47.209-05:00EXACTLY!EXACTLY!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329600504016968888.post-5516700402567851822018-06-01T09:26:13.736-05:002018-06-01T09:26:13.736-05:00For what passes as worship in many churches on a S...For what passes as worship in many churches on a Sunday morning, there is absolutely no point in attending. An hour of quiet prayer and reflection alone would be of greater value to many than what is happening in church.<br /><br />What cannot be conveyed other than in church is Holy Communion (unless someone brings it to a homebound individual). Neither can the sense of community, of mutual support, of being loved as one of the many who are chosen, none of these can happen a home on your I-phone.<br /><br />Fr.D+Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329600504016968888.post-65964022419602026682018-06-01T08:56:59.049-05:002018-06-01T08:56:59.049-05:00This is why outreach in the form of casual, laid-b...This is why outreach in the form of casual, laid-back so-called worship services is a disservice to the unchurched and unbelieving. If we as Lutherans subscribe wholeheartedly to our confessions and liturgical legacy, doctrine and practice, at what point do we share them with the unsuspecting “lounge lizard” checking out this God/Christianity thing going on in the movie theatre or the local bar and grill? We lure them in with the promise that, “Hey, church isn’t so different from what you’re used to. Besides, we cut to the chase and give you the bottom line, that being Jesus.” At what point do we tell the spiritual seeker about the means of grace, word and sacrament, the forgiveness of sins, life, and salvation? Is there ever a catechetical graduation from the church plant locus to the high church realm? Inertia is not so easily overcome. Seekers by nature are careful and critical, watching everything the church leader does not wanting to be misled, measuring everything with their reason and therefore ready to bail when their intelligence is insulted. Beyond that, as Pastor Peters’ post queries, why would anyone travel to gather in a casual setting to hear marginal rock music on a Sunday morning maybe repeating what they did the night before? Music and a message? Why indeed? Hoping to meet someone to date? Looking for people who are more ethical or moral than average? Music and a message? Those two alone have no staying power. Only when people believe they’re meeting God in a theophany, Christ’s body and blood, do they hunger and thirst for the righteousness they afford. Music and a message? Do either inspire itinerant seekers or the curious to tithe or give alms? Why does the church require so little of unbelievers and give them the full counsel of God? Do church plant pastors confront them with their sin and preach the Law enough to make them understand they’re in danger or are they too busy answering anonymous text messages sent during the worship “service?” Contemporary, culture tainted, experience driven, so-called worship services may attract a few wanderers but without the gifts of God through the means of grace to sustain them, they will soon drop off and fall away, preferring the fellowship of the interweb to that of real live people worshiping in spirit and in truth.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com