Hiding from the Church

I used to think that folks that didn't attend a church service on Sunday were hiding from the church. To some extent that is true. There is good reason not to attend the Sunday morning crowd but there is no good reason not to have community or fellowship. In many ways the folks attending Sunday morning church are hidden from the church as well. Not that much is exposed or dealt with in the traditional church model. I say this not to be critical of those people because there are a lot of wonderful things that do occur during Sunday morning church. The Christian life just seems very un-natural in the life of the American church. Everything revolves around the meeting place. After 35 years of observing this I have literally come full circle. In the beginning of my walk I was a part of a very small community of young believers. It was the most exciting time in my christian life. We did everything together. We worshiped and prayed together. We watched football together. We went places together. It was a way of life. We were a family and Jesus was the truly the center of our life.

The next 30 years I participated in and out of the traditional church scene both denominational and non-denominational. I thought that I might learn something from the folks that grew up in church. I never really had much experience with it and so I thought that the only way to learn more is to participate more. Anybody that knows me well understands that I am a full on or a full off kind of guy. I'm either all the way committed to something or I'm not committed at all. I don't do well as a passive participant and so wherever I landed I gave it my best shot. The lessons that I have learned are quite revealing. One lesson that I learned is that most of the folks involved in the church scene are pretty nice people only trying to do their part. They are following in the footsteps of those before them. They are content with their tradition and see no need for change in the status-quo. What they may not be seeing is that the system that they are supporting is failing all across our nation. The American traditional church is on the decline. The younger generations are not interested. Many of the X and Y generation don't believe Jesus to be all that republican. That's one of the political images that the church portrays. Television preachers are becoming irrelevant to mainstream America. The American Church is somewhat oblivious to what is happening because they are deeply entrenched in this inwardness. The church is asleep at the wheel. We are content because we built this machine and we measure it by giving ourselves passing grades in most areas but that is the essence of the problem. It's all about us.

The language people use in the church is a clear indicator as to what is important to them. The language that I too often hear revolves around the quality of the worship service or the meeting place. You will will hear, "What a great sermon" or "The music was so good today". Neither of those things are bad things unless they replace our devotion and love for Jesus. One thing that I have noticed over the years is that folks in the church weren't talking about Jesus anymore. We use His name to build a religious economic empire but something tells me that the Lord is longing for us to leave that all behind and return to Him. This is where I am right now. I have decided to eliminate all the substitutes and return to my first love. I don't want to hide anymore. I don't want to hide behind tradition nor do I want to be isolated from christian community. I no longer feel alone in my decision because I am discovering a whole new movement in America by people that are starving for Jesus and no longer willing to give themselves to a religious substitute.

Do you really think Jesus is involved in all of this religious stuff? I don't. He blesses some of it because of His grace and love but I really believe that He wants us to return to Him. We really need to come out from our hiding and seek the Lord with all our heart, mind and soul. His ways are not our ways. Oh what a day it would be, if we would turn from ourselves and do the things we did at first. He would take us all back in a heartbeat.

For God so loved.....