FOREWARNING: This post isn't aimed at every single church in America. This post is a plea, not an attack. If this post does not pertain to your church, please don't think I'm saying it does. I do not have the time, not the desire, to visit every single church in this beautiful country. That being said, read on.
Burden and heaviness of heart are plaguing me this morning.
After a tiring week, being busy with obligations, a heavy work schedule, family stresses, and serving those I love so dearly, I was REALLY looking forward to a weekend of quiet contemplation, rejuvenation in the Word, and precious time resting. I knew the upcoming week's schedule removed me from my family, and time away, for me, is never relaxing.
I was hoping to utilize the weekend for meetings with my friend to unwind, but as one of my best friends says, "The battle never ends", and Sunday hit me like a freight train going 100 miles-per-hour.
I should've known the bottom was about to drop out; I actually got to church early.
I should've known something was about to happen; my dear sweet sister-in-Christ and I were able to sing together in my car before church. Praise. Eyes closed, tears rolling, reckless abandon, Worship. It was awesome.
God knew what we were walking into that day, that's why He arranged that precious time to worship Him, to be renewed in His strength, to be filled with His peace, and joy, and hope, and love.
Boy, did I need it later.
I"m struggling to understand what happened. Actually, I am understanding. The hard part is restraining my reaction. I'm grasping at small straws, piecing everything together with the guidance of the Spirit, trying DESPERATELY to utilize tact, wisdom, and love.
My parents taught me early on, "If you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all."
Jesus and experience have refined that lesson, "If you can't say something with love, it won't be received." That has helped me restrain from reacting (like an animal) our of an emotional response that would do nothing but offend and add fuel to what is most likely an already volatile situation.
I was able to witness this weekend, with my own eyes and ears, a problem the American church is plagued with, but in its own self-righteousness, can't admit.
We like to talk the talk, but we have NO IDEA what it looks like to walk the walk.
We all ourselves Christians.
We come to church every Sunday to worship (our idea of) God.
We call ourselves blessed, because we have jobs, we work to pay for the things we want and need, we have nice homes, we have happy families.
We live like we don't need God.
We are seriously clueless as to what "following Christ" really looks like.
At the rare opportunity to actually see someone who is living this lifestyle, we scoff, we call them radical, or even worse, we don't recognize it for what it is, and begin the oh-so-familiar process of judging, condemning, persecuting, and ostracizing.
Ah, how I love the American church.
The scary thing is, I do. I seriously do. I see the amazing potential of the American church.
I see the church in almost every single one of Jesus' parables; what it is, and what it could be.
The potential I see for the American church mirrors a story in Luke 7, verses 40-48. Jesus is speaking with a Pharisee named Simon, following the woman anointing Jesus with oil, washing his feet with her hair and her tears.
(See, in the church, we love to make a big deal about washing one another's feet. but how quickly we overlook the lesson that follows.)
Jesus replied, "Simon, I have something to say to you."
"Teacher, speak," he said.
"A certain lender had two debtors. One owed enough money to pay five hundred people for a day's work. the other owed enough money for fifty. When they couldn't pay, the lender forgave the debts of them both. Which of them will love him more?"
Simon replied, "I suppose the one who had the largest debt canceled."
Jesus said, "You have judged correctly."
Jesus turned to the woman and said to Simon, "Do you see this woman? When I entered your home, you didn't give me water for my feet, but she wet my feet with tears and wiped them with her hair. You didn't greet me with a kiss, but she hasn't stopped kissing my feet since I came in. You didn't anoint my head with oil, but she has poured perfumed oil on my feet. This is why I tell you that her many sins have been forgiven; so she has shown great love. The one who is forgiven little loves little."
Then Jesus said to her, "Your sins are forgiven."
I see the church today going through an awakening of sorts. God is opening the eyes of this western giant, which I dare not say has been asleep, but rather deceived.
We've been deceived into thinking that we're better than other people, because we're Christian.
We've been deceived into thinking that because we carry the name of Christ, everything we do now is somehow endorsed by the kingdom of heaven.
We've been deceived into thinking that God only comes to our churches on Sunday mornings; that He got our memo that services for Him (us) are scheduled for Sunday mornings at 9. Or 10. Or 11. Or whenever the lights are on.
We've been deceived into thinking that God fits into this tiny little compartment of our lives (and churches) that we've created just for Him.
We've been deceived into believing that God loves our love of our traditions.
We've been deceived into thinking that God could be pleased with us, with our commitments to the church, with our programs, and with our adherence to the Ten Commandments. (Please. Crucial theological lesson there, but it's a subject for another day.)
We've been deceived into idolizing the building, and the schedule, and the tradition, and the clock. In all actuality, we don't even know if God is really there at all.
Sure, we pray for our leaders, we pray for victims and those affected by natural disasters, terrorist attacks, horrible explosions half-a country away. We pray for people who need healing. It's so easy to corporately pray for someone you have no connection to...don't need a whole lot of faith for that prayer, do we.
But how often do we pray for the next generation being raised up, not just our children and grandchildren, to live productive lives, to experience Christ early and remain strong in Him?
How often do we pray for God to open our eyes? To show us what we're doing wrong? (Which, by the way, is painfully humbling.)
How often do we pray for the troubled teens in our own backyards, who have been abandoned and neglected, therefore resorting to the life of common criminals?
How often are we actually putting our hands and feet into motion, to help those who so desperately need the Gospel?
We've been deceived into thinking that we can judge who is worthy of receiving the Gospel.
We've been deceived into thinking that living and sharing the Gospel is reserved for missionaries and preachers.
We've been deceived into ignoring the lessons on living in true community, according to Paul's letters in the New Testament.
We've established our own set of rules, and so easily condemn those who don't fit in.
We've distanced ourselves, in our opulence, "blessed-ness", and self righteousness, from the ones Jesus lived among, the ones who needed Him the most: the criminals, the outcast, the sick...
Jesus said, "I did not come for the righteous, but sinners."
Um, y'all? In case we forgot, that's every single one of us.
We have to step outside our comfort zones to really open our eyes to who Jesus spoke of when He said, "I assure you that when you have done it for one the least of these, you have done it for me."
The "least of these" aren't just the hungry, or the thirsty, or the naked, or the sick. It's not only orphans and widows (fine job we're doing there...yes, that's sarcasm.)
The "least of these is anyone we've labeled an outcast.
- Teenagers, who have no ambition, because it's never been modeled for them.
- The elderly, locked in nursing homes, because they've either been abandoned, or require too much care for family members to take on.
- New parents who have to work two jobs to cover the cost of expenses, the cost of daycare, the cost of groceries.
- The couple who lost a child, no matter how old.
- The newly retired people who just realized they have to continue to work.
- The family that divorce looms on their horizon.
Church, this is all of us. No matter what secret we try to hide, we are all the least of these.
SOOOO, as God is opening our eyes to the deception we've fallen into, this brings about the potential I see.
What would it look like, if the American church was to realize the deception on a grand scale, and turn back to the God who is so much bigger than all of us could collectively fathom, and "love greatly"?
"This is why I tell you that her many sins have been forgiven, so she has shown great love. the one who is forgiven little loves little."
Can you imagine!!
Instead of ostracizing the "questionable" members of our society, we embraced them, loved them, gave them a sense of worth, let them know how much they are valued by God, and as a byproduct, we are witnesses to the amazing transformative love of God in someone's life.
That's what happened to the people who encountered Jesus. They weren't just healed. They had a collision with our holy God, an experience that radically changed their life. They were physically healed and delivered on the outside, and their hearts and minds were transformed.
Not just "changed", because people can't change. (How often do we use that as an excuse to continue on in our sin, our deceptions, our habits, and excuses...)
God transforms.
This is plainly evident in a life that has come into contact with the Creator. All of a sudden, the "light" shines. And everyone around them notices it, too. The peace they carry is displayed, and day by day, more and more of the transformation is revealed. Christ shines through.
Church. I say this with all the love I can humanly hold in this heart of mine: We're deceiving ourselves if we don't study who exactly Christ IS.
We have to realize that we've created a counterfeit, a humanized deity, and called it God. No wonder so many younger people are not even remotely attracted to the idea of going to church!
Not only have we "missed the mark" (picture an archer shooting an arrow at a target) of what God wants for us, we've moved the target, and called it our religion, our church, and our traditions; sacred cows that cannot be toyed with, and can not be altered.
God is shifting the world as we know it.
He's shifting the way we do "church". Part of that is revealing His Truth, opening our eyes to it, clearing the smoke from our understanding of it, and calling people into a new understanding of "following Christ". Not just in words, but in action as well.
What does this look like? It starts with an examination of the religious culture when Jesus first came. The "same old thing we've always done" was exactly what Jesus was up against when He began His ministry here on earth.
How did He do it?
He started with twelve.
