Church-The New Exodus? Part II
This just continues to plague me. I ran across a post today entitled “I still don’t get church”. The questions and concerns that Ruth posted in this blog seemed sincere and heartfelt. Many of the comments seemed trite, however. When one has been hurt by the church, or one feels like an outsider, there aren’t easy answers. Grief takes time to heal. Trust takes time to build or re-build. What are we, the church, doing that is hurting so many people? How do we stop this? Maybe if we quit using words like “the elect” or “saints” to describe our selves, we won’t look down so much on others. I don’t know. I think we need to seriously reconsider our paradigms.
The phrase “Be in the world, but not of it” comes to mind. When we say this, what do we think it means? Do we think it means “Bless their hearts, look at those sinners, but let’s make sure we don’t get too close, because they might contaminate us”? Have we gotten so consumed with our pursuit of a personal “holiness”, that we have mistaken that for the true Gospel?
A quote from gotquestions.org:
What believers *should* do is to be set apart from the world. This is the meaning of being holy and living a holy, righteous life–to be set apart. We are not to engage in the sinful activities the world promotes, nor are we to retain the insipid, corrupt mind that the world creates. Rather, we are to conform ourselves, and our minds, to that of Jesus Christ (Romans 12:1-2). This is a daily activity; a daily commitment. We can enjoy the things of the world, but we are not to immerse ourselves in the world.
So, that’s it? Enjoy the pleasures of the world, but make sure we don’t act like “those people”? Who exactly are “those people”?
Maybe “those people” … are us.
Stained Glass Masquerade
Is there anyone that fails
Is there anyone that falls
Am I the only one in church today feelin’ so small
Cause when I take a look around
Everybody seems so strong
I know they’ll soon discover
That I don’t belong
So I tuck it all away, like everything’s okay
If I make them all believe it, maybe I’ll believe it too
So with a painted grin, I play the part again
So everyone will see me the way that I see them
Are we happy plastic people
Under shiny plastic steeples
With walls around our weakness
And smiles to hide our pain
But if the invitation’s open
To every heart that has been broken
Maybe then we close the curtain
On our stained glass masquerade
Is there anyone who’s been there
Are there any hands to raise
Am I the only one who’s traded
In the altar for a stage
The performance is convincing
And we know every line by heart
Only when no one is watching
Can we really fall apart
But would it set me free
If I dared to let you see
The truth behind the person
That you imagine me to be
Would your arms be open
Or would you walk away
Would the love of Jesus
Be enough to make you stay
By: Casting Crowns
Technorati Tags: church, religion, healing, casting+crowns,
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Hey MTS.
Thanks for continuing this on and for the feedback. It is something I think we all need to be thinking about. It’s real easy to just get on our high horse and justify what we hear from people who have been genuinely hurt by “the church” and Christians. In reality we need to be facing up to it and allowing the difficult questions to be asked while we seek for Christ centred answers.
I read a book about 7 years ago called (I think) “Exit Interviews”. It was interviews with people who had slipped out the “bakc door” of the church. I found it eye opening and It started me thinking about a lot of these questions and the things people were saying about the institutionalised church - things that just weren’t being heard by those who needed to hear them.
Anyway -
Andrew,
Sounds like a good book..perhaps I’ll try to find it. I think these are the things we need to dialogue about. Not just to complain, but to find answers and hopefully solutions.
Thanks for the feedback.
I just found the book on Amazon - It is called Exit Interviews. Here’s the link.
http://www.amazon.com/Exit-Interviews-Revealing-Stories-Leaving/dp/0802423183/sr=8-1/qid=1164860141/ref=pd_bbs_1/104-5290463-1047131?ie=UTF8&s=books
Came over from your comment on Ruth’s blog. I think it’s more than the terms we use, it’s got to do with the whole way we do church. The Bible describes church as the family of God, but when you go to Sunday service, unless you’ve been with the church for yonks and know lots of people, it doesn’t feel like ‘family’ or even ‘community’ at all. Besides that there’s the whole “Those who serve in ministry are the ‘in’ people” thing. When I said I didn’t know most of the church members, friends used to tell me to join ministries in order to get to know more people, can you believe that? If you notice, the people in minsitries are known by most, and are especially close to the leadership. The unspoken message is if you don’t serve, you’re not worthy of attention from those Up There. But then some of us don’t choose to serve in church-based ministries (worship team, etc) — we choose to serve where we are — in the workplace — or perhaps volunteer with charities on the weekends and so on. We’re then labelled ‘pew warmers’ and told that we should give back to the church instead of always receiving. So church becomes like a clique.
Sunflower,
I agree that we need to do things differently. My husband and I have been on staff at a church, and I just want to say, on behalf off all of those people “up there”…..I’m sorry. The ministry you do is as important, if not MORE important, then what you see on a Sunday morning.
Jamie