Regardless of the conversation with my dad last week, I have been working up to attending a church for about 6 weeks now. Occasionally the idea starts in the back of my brain, I work on it, and then lug myself to some church to see what they're all about.
For this church, I actually met the pastor a few weeks ago when I was in town checking out when a new coffee and gelato shop was going to open up. Turns out the church owns this coffee shop, and the funds from that are going to help support the pastor and his family as they start this church plant.
I thought that was a great idea, was rather impressed, and the pastor was nice enough - so when he invited me to church I said I’d show up sometime. I must confess that I had some high hopes going into this, with all my thinking and struggling I thought how perfect if I could find a church that Greg and I could really plug into and have a good community with.
Silly me.
The whole layout of the service was strange. Being a churchplant, they didn’t yet have a band, so we sang to CDs, which is more or less OK – but they sang SO MANY SONGS that it was ridiculous. Then before he started the sermon, they took the tithes, which wouldn’t have bothered me so much if he hadn’t proclaimed that they do this because they don’t what you to: “Bring any of your junk into the sanctuary of God. We take care of all our business before we enter into God’s presence. That includes our tithes and offerings, and any sin. I can’t stress enough that you need to take care of your business outside of church.”
Which was a little surprising. I didn’t agree with it but I guess I can respect the honesty. I’m not sure where they expect you to deposit ‘your junk’ . . . but clearly not there.
The second item which we addressed before the sermon (which I suppose may have been ‘junk’ too), was that in the office space next to them, a counseling center for convicted sex offenders was looking at renting that space. The pastor requested money from the congregation so that they could rent out that space themselves and therefore keep “Them and their kind far away from us.” Then hastily adding: “we’ll minister to them on THEIR turf, we don’t need them anywhere near us and our children”.
This was a tough one for me. I really think that Jesus would have ministered to them period. I’m just as uncomfortable with the idea of ministering to sex offenders, but I’d like to attend a church where they know how to deal with these kinds of people in love, not just ostracizing them from their society. (This issue could be a blog in and of itself)
Lastly, as he was wrapping up his sermon, (It wasn’t bad, it wasn’t great, I just don’t remember it) he made a rather large Freudian slip. He was talking about Jesus’ sacrifice and said that Jesus had come to“Redeem your miserable little lives.” (that is a direct quote)
Your lives. Not our lives. Big difference…. and all too telling for me. So I left.
I’ll state it again, I do appreciate the honesty that was oozing out of that place. At least it didn’t waste 3 weeks of my time trying to get to the bottom line. It took 2 hours and that was it.
I was a little disappointed, but not crushed. It really wasn’t a shock to the system, just a little surprising how blatant the pastor was. He obviously has been in the game too long, or not long enough. He hasn't reached that polished level of aloofness yet.
I thought that was a great idea, was rather impressed, and the pastor was nice enough - so when he invited me to church I said I’d show up sometime. I must confess that I had some high hopes going into this, with all my thinking and struggling I thought how perfect if I could find a church that Greg and I could really plug into and have a good community with.
Silly me.
The whole layout of the service was strange. Being a churchplant, they didn’t yet have a band, so we sang to CDs, which is more or less OK – but they sang SO MANY SONGS that it was ridiculous. Then before he started the sermon, they took the tithes, which wouldn’t have bothered me so much if he hadn’t proclaimed that they do this because they don’t what you to: “Bring any of your junk into the sanctuary of God. We take care of all our business before we enter into God’s presence. That includes our tithes and offerings, and any sin. I can’t stress enough that you need to take care of your business outside of church.”
Which was a little surprising. I didn’t agree with it but I guess I can respect the honesty. I’m not sure where they expect you to deposit ‘your junk’ . . . but clearly not there.
The second item which we addressed before the sermon (which I suppose may have been ‘junk’ too), was that in the office space next to them, a counseling center for convicted sex offenders was looking at renting that space. The pastor requested money from the congregation so that they could rent out that space themselves and therefore keep “Them and their kind far away from us.” Then hastily adding: “we’ll minister to them on THEIR turf, we don’t need them anywhere near us and our children”.
This was a tough one for me. I really think that Jesus would have ministered to them period. I’m just as uncomfortable with the idea of ministering to sex offenders, but I’d like to attend a church where they know how to deal with these kinds of people in love, not just ostracizing them from their society. (This issue could be a blog in and of itself)
Lastly, as he was wrapping up his sermon, (It wasn’t bad, it wasn’t great, I just don’t remember it) he made a rather large Freudian slip. He was talking about Jesus’ sacrifice and said that Jesus had come to“Redeem your miserable little lives.” (that is a direct quote)
Your lives. Not our lives. Big difference…. and all too telling for me. So I left.
I’ll state it again, I do appreciate the honesty that was oozing out of that place. At least it didn’t waste 3 weeks of my time trying to get to the bottom line. It took 2 hours and that was it.
I was a little disappointed, but not crushed. It really wasn’t a shock to the system, just a little surprising how blatant the pastor was. He obviously has been in the game too long, or not long enough. He hasn't reached that polished level of aloofness yet.
Regardless, I think I’d like to pursue the idea of going to a local church a little further, because the idea of community appeals to me. Community with whom is really the question. Hopefully I can find a little more open-minded church with people who don’t have such big problems with bringing their ‘junk’ to God – and a pastor with a bit more experience with what ministry is all about. We’ll see.
2 comments:
I know that trust is the hardest for me. It isn't that I don't trust God. I do Trusting that the leadership of any given church is a much harder thing.
Because of manipulation and lies from my distant and not so distant past, I have found it hard to trust church leaders to have motives that aren't completely self serving. I am fearful of stepping back into the dysfunction I worked so hard to leave and the thinking that held me captive. The guilt, shame, and fear of judgement that squashed my spirit.
Our pastor is preaching a series about living a godly life with passion. He talked about people who just can't give 100% and have a hard time committing because of what they would have to give up. I understand that attitude.
I am wary to commit 100%. I never want to go back into those dysfunctional ways that trapped me. I guess the fear is that I would have to saddle the dysfunction that I have worked so hard to shed.
I identified with your detection of the words that could be passed over. The words that were pregnant with meaning about a world view that I have come to see, and I think you rightly recognized as not part of God's message, but the language of entrapment.
My wife says that that church attendance shouldn't be so hard. I couldn't agree more.
Can I leave my junk with you?
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