The Church
I know people may get sick of hearing my rantings against the church. I don't want for this post to be a continuation of that. The church has its problems, but I want to get beyond that. I want to talk a little about what I wish for and what I want in a church.
I grew up in a church that was in a area that was really growing and during the time of my childhood we saw the church grow from a few dozen members to well over two thousand. It seems a least from the outside looking in that everyone got along with each other. Though I am sure that was an illusion now. But, it is easier to overlook some things and feel good about things when the church is growing and the bills are getting paid. It seems we have the tendency the most to turn on each other when money is tight and membership is dropping. Unfortunately for me, both the churches I pastored were in areas of stagnant growth or declining growth.
In my ideal church, it would be nice to see a church where people loved each other despite their problems. A lot of times people assume the worst in each other. I had a lot of times when people made assumptions about me without all the facts. The other thing that people may not realize is that when you gossip about someone a lot of times word gets back to the person about what you said and it hurts. I really think if you really thought the person was listening to what you were saying about them then most of us would have a whole lot less to say.
It really makes me wonder what God thinks of our worship when our actions and our words don't line up with each other. I mean, in the Old Testament, when that happened God said to Israel that their worship was an offense to him. He actually told them to stop bringing to them their sacrifices and to start actually doing what they were suppose to. We may be good at seperating our daily life from worship, but it doesn't appear to me that God is. In fact, it seems that how I live my life is a kind of worship to God. It is a way of honoring God by doing what I say.
I grew up in a church that was in a area that was really growing and during the time of my childhood we saw the church grow from a few dozen members to well over two thousand. It seems a least from the outside looking in that everyone got along with each other. Though I am sure that was an illusion now. But, it is easier to overlook some things and feel good about things when the church is growing and the bills are getting paid. It seems we have the tendency the most to turn on each other when money is tight and membership is dropping. Unfortunately for me, both the churches I pastored were in areas of stagnant growth or declining growth.
In my ideal church, it would be nice to see a church where people loved each other despite their problems. A lot of times people assume the worst in each other. I had a lot of times when people made assumptions about me without all the facts. The other thing that people may not realize is that when you gossip about someone a lot of times word gets back to the person about what you said and it hurts. I really think if you really thought the person was listening to what you were saying about them then most of us would have a whole lot less to say.
It really makes me wonder what God thinks of our worship when our actions and our words don't line up with each other. I mean, in the Old Testament, when that happened God said to Israel that their worship was an offense to him. He actually told them to stop bringing to them their sacrifices and to start actually doing what they were suppose to. We may be good at seperating our daily life from worship, but it doesn't appear to me that God is. In fact, it seems that how I live my life is a kind of worship to God. It is a way of honoring God by doing what I say.
