INSIDE OUT

Do you believe in God, but, are sick and tired of the institution of church? Yup, so am I. I was raised in a family where church was the thing to do. Well, not always. There were times where they would go full force and then stop going all together. It made no difference to me as a child. Isn't God everywhere? He was certainly in my heart. I found God in some of the people in churches. Just not all. I found God in people who have never stepped foot in church. There was something in them I found comfort in though. Reminds me of a lady at a well I've heard told about. The "church" didn't see much God in her... Jesus did though.

I am so bored with church. Religious people are the only people in society who don't pay or get paid to go and hear some person give us their own opinion. I had to pay to go to University to listen to lectures. Some were better than others. There have also been times where I would have paid to hear a person up on stage to perform or talk about a certain subject, including being pertained to the bible, but, it had to be good! So why did I settle for so long? Why did I go to sermon after sermon, when most of it wasn't that intelligent, much less entertaining. No wonder many people see church and Christianity as stuffy and boring.

So, do we go to church to be entertained? Not exclusively, but, shouldn't it be a part of it? An educated speaker should be another part of it. Good motivational speakers are also great. I've seen many of them speaking in churches. Lord knows we need encouragement and motivation to keep up this belief some of the time. But, if you have a heart for people and don't have the gift of teaching, let someone else do it! Don't have so much pride that just because you have an opinion, you should be up on "stage". The "stage" is a valuable place. It should be saved for those who have a gift for it.

The judgement and separation between those "in" the church and those who do not feel the need to go to church to be "saved" is pronounced in our culture, badly. I have a hard time believing Jesus would step foot in a lot of the churches today. Biblical authors either didn't see much of it or didn't see the importance of what we call "church". Jesus' presence in the church was just not noted much, or, from what I can remember, at all! Leaders and religious people of the "faith" in the church were actually those who Jesus was MOST upset with. I doubt it is much different today.

Please don't get me wrong. Do I think that all churches are bad? No. But, the status quo seems to believe that if you go to church you are a better "Christian" than if you don't. On the other side, if you don't go to church you are also not a better "Christian". But, you are certainly not worse off. If Jesus was supposed to be our example and he wasn't found listening to sermon after sermon, going to church three and four times a week, or worshipping through music for an hour and a half, then why do we feel like we need to subject others to it? Why do we feel like we need to be "better" than him? It is merely tradition that causes us to conform to the walls of church and all ceremonies within it. If it is not found in the bible then why do we feel the "need'' to do it. Moreso, even if it was in the bible there is no evidence that we need to follow it. Jesus certainly didn't.

What is important, in my opinion, is heart and community. Jesus stressed this countless times. How do you achieve this without Sunday morning church? Well, considering "church" was never meant to be about ONE person sharing ONE gift while all the other "gifts" get left by the way-side week after week, I have a hunch that "church" on Sunday mornings isn't really happening at all. Having a gifted speaker every so often is great! The New Testament church had speakers like Paul come on out on "occasion" to speak. Paul was a gifted speaker! In the meantime, they got together to encourage each other and discuss. Does this EVER happen on Sunday morning? Not in any church I've been a part of. Again, don't get me wrong. If you choose to go to church on Sundays or Saturdays, as it were, and you enjoy your teacher, well you are lucky. I just hope your church or your traditions do not make you feel guilty if you think your pastor's a boring teacher or talks for far too long. But, listen, if you have a pastor who just isn't that great a teacher and who is not getting seekers to your church, either ask him to give the stage to someone who deserves the platform or take some time off to educate him/herself in order that they can become a better teacher. Let the members of the church do the rest.

The church we are a part of (half-way across the country) has a lot to say on this subject. They have church on Sunday too. But, they are the first to mention that it's not really what Jesus meant when he said to "get together and fellowship". The other thing I like about when they DO get together is that the teacher is a great teacher. He is not there simply because he went to bible college and now is forced to teach. He is there because his particular gift IS teaching. He is not perfect, nor great 100% of the time. But, he is funny, sees the importance of relevance in our culture without seeming to sacrifice on integrity (but, who ever knows what happens behind closed doors). He is entertaining, well educated in theology, psychology, history, philosophy, and understands that church should be fun!!! We were lucky to have someone who saw the importance in that role. Otherwise, I would have no problem staying home on Sunday mornings. In addition to this, his ONLY role is teaching! Others have been designated other roles. In no way am I saying this is right and others' way is wrong. I would be, then, no different than those who judge me. This is not a judgement about right and wrong. This, to me, is about my own conviction and where I, personally, would like to call "church".

We don't go to "church" at all now. I dread the thought. Unless I hear that it's a guest speaker who has the reputation for great speaking, I'm just not interested. It might just be because after having three kids and being on the go all the time, I have a hard time sitting down for so long unless it's so interesting that it can hold my attention.

We have a "home" church now, here in Halifax. It's fun, laid back, and we get to focus attention on people within our community. We don't just think about ourselves and how church can benefit us. We come together to think about how we can make church practical for those in our community, who are not as well-off. We don't "preach" to others. We care for them. We let God do the work of bringing people to him. We just act and try to show love where love may not otherwise have been shown. We don't have an ulterior motive to try and get them "saved". That's disingenuous. There is not one particular gift we focus on. We get together to hang out. We have dinner together and chat about our different beliefs, passions, desires, and all things meaningful to us. It's an opportunity to talk about things with others where we would not have that opportunity afforded to us by the Sunday morning church, otherwise. We are not perfect in our beliefs and welcome those with views different than ours. It's great to have a group of people, under the same God, who have different beliefs. Our goal is not to agree! It is to seek truth in our OWN time and where each of us are with GOD... not some designated formula. We all come to different truths at different times. To think that everyone must agree is preposterous. It is this "theology", which would have no choice but to mean that everyone has to agree with YOU!

But, oh... that's another blog.