No need to mention the Rangers today.
I'm still stuck on the song I mentioned a few blogs ago, "The Motions" that Matthew West sings. It keeps me thinking about where I've been and where I hope to go and how different those two episodes of life might look.
I watched a video that struck me the other day too. A speaker was telling the audience that he thought we could see a better idea of what God intended the church to be at an AA meeting than in an institutional church setting. I don't believe I disagree with him. You go to AA because a) a judge has ordered you to or b) you've got some problems you need to find a way to deal with. For those who go because of "b", there are some really honest stories told, some tough thoughts/feelings/actions are opened up and healing can happen. That's what church, the body of Christ, should be because that is what Christ is; the one I should be really honest with, the one I should bear all my ugliness, my hurts, my scars, my sins to and the one who will begin the healing.
I have grown up in churches where I have heard more complaining or gossip about what someone is doing than being aware of people going to help the hurting. I have heard people spend time asking what the one who went forward did or say "what a shame" or "they brought it on themselves" and other things of that nature but did not stop to offer prayers or help or a shoulder to cry on. I wish I could say it was someone else but I am just as guilty.
I don't want the church to be more like AA; I want it to be incomparable to any organization we can imagine. I don't want the church to be a place where brothers and sisters feel safe but a place where brothers and sisters and people dealing with every kind of sin Jesus so their healing can begin. I don't want to be a part of a church that is going through the motions but a church that is the active body of Christ - one that certainly teaches truth, but even more, lives it, exudes it, a church that shows the irresistible nature of the Christ.
The challenge is that it doesn't fall to the Elders or the ministers - it starts with me. What will I do today? How will I show Christ to people today? How will I let people know there is healing for their pain and suffering, that there is grace and peace and salvation in our Lord?
2 comments:
Great post. My dad, who died a recovering alcoholic, was very involved in AA. He once told me that it was much more like church should be than "church" was. And he did more ministry for the Lord there than in an institutional church.
I do see things moving away from what you described -- toward more of an openness and sharing of struggles, etc. Maybe some day we will take seriously the words "confess your sins to one another" -- and not make a mockery of that by limiting it to "responding to the invitation."
This is more of the "want to" attitude vs. the "have to" attitude. When Jesus is Lord of your heart, you want to serve him, praise him, obey him, and love him. When Jesus is just another object in our lives then we have to serve him, praise him, obey him, and love him. It is in these "have to" moments that we simply go through the motions. It is only when Jesus is Lord of our lives and we want to be about his business that we will truly live each second for him with his attitude beaming from every pore in our bodies. And it may be that when Jesus truly becomes our Lord things like confession won't need an invitation - it will happen because that's the way Jesus wants it to happen. Just my two cents.
Thanks for the blog.
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