SEEING THE EXTRAORDINARY

Month: April 2016

  • What’s my church?

    Riding with my oldest daughter to school means that I have the opportunity to hear country music.  I can’t say that I am a big fan, but it is okay for the drive.  She really enjoys hearing her favorites so I tolerate it.  Today, though, a song that bothered me came on.  She knew every word to it – but as I listened – I had a hard time wrapping my arms around what the artist was singing.  I expressed my concern – I can only imagine that she was thinking…why can’t I have a normal Dad that just sings along rather than analyzing every song that comes on?  This song has really made me think…

    So the song is by Maren Morris, My Church.  I even watched the YouTube video to get the whole “experience” of the song.  The chorus goes like this:

    “Can I get a hallelujah

    Can I get an amen

    Feels like the Holy Ghost running through ya

    When I play the highway FM

    I find my soul revival

    Singing every single verse

    Yeah I guess that’s my church”

     

    And one of the verses:

    “When Hank brings the sermon

    And Cash leads the choir

    It gets my cold coal heart burning

    Hotter than a ring of fire

    When this wonderful world gets heavy

    And I need to find my escape

    I just keep the wheels rolling, radio scrolling

    Until my sins wash away”

    The video has a choir singing as she drives away from the church, after smoking on the front steps – not actually being in the church.  A choir, a hallelujah, a reference to church and the Holy Ghost…what could be wrong?

    It certainly brings up the idea of the purpose of church.  What is church?  Does listening to the radio playing old country songs constitute church?  The writer of the song certainly uses all the references to a traditional church.  She mentions revival, singing, the sermon, a burning heart, a ring of fire, and sins being washed away…not to mention praises of hallelujah and amen.  It reminds me of when people say they can have “church” while fishing…or doing any other activity that makes them happy.  She brings nostalgic familiar words to something not often associated with the church.

    If church is about us – about the people – about those who are there to feel better and find an escape from the world – then maybe Morris is on to something.  If church is really about us and getting a good feeling and just helping people out along the way…then maybe that is church.

    But, what if church isn’t about us at all?  What if church isn’t about you and me finding a place that makes us happy?  What if church isn’t about what we get out of it?  What if church is about a community of believers coming together to worship a Holy God?  What if the purpose of church is to worship…together…the only ONE who deserves worship?

    I’m not saying riding in a car, singing along to your favorite music, letting the worries of the day go by is a bad thing.  I am saying that this isn’t church.  Church is so much more than you and me…Church is about worship – a group of broken people coming before a Holy God…redeemed, set free, and sent out to be more like HIM.

  • Who’s the best?

    Who’s the best?  That’s a thought that often runs through the minds of so many in our competitive society.  Our culture seems to be one of comparison – who has the best, who does this the best, that person did that better than you.  In some situations, competition is great and necessary.  You want the best players on a basketball team.  You want the best athletes in the Olympics.  You want the best taking care of you medically.  But, sometimes this gets out of control.

    If our world is about competition, then we are constantly in a comparison game.  Why don’t I run better than he does?  Why doesn’t my hair look like hers?  Why is their house bigger than mine?  Why does he play the piano so much better than I do?  This is a no win game.  We will always have someone to compare ourselves to.  Even if we are the best at one thing, there are a ton of other things in our lives that someone else is better at.

    This even spills over into our lives as Christians.  She reads the Bible better than I do.  He sings better than I do.  That church has a better youth program.  There are more people attending that church than mine.  There are more younger people there.  There are less activities here.  And we find ourselves in another no win game of who is best.

    Comparing ourselves to others can lead to envy, to a financial disaster, to anxiety and stress, to difficulties in relationships, and even to a church trying to be something other than what God intended.

    How do we avoid this when it is so engrained in our culture?  I think that we by taking a long difficult look at why we do what we do.  What really is your motives?  What really is driving you?  What or who are you comparing yourself to?  Who are you trying to emulate?

    As a Christian, my focus has to be on following Christ.  If I do that, then my comparison is…am I doing what I have been called to do.  That doesn’t mean that I do it better than someone else.  That means that I look at what God’s calling on my life is, and do that to the best of my ability.  The same goes for the church.  As the church, are we doing what God has called us…our fellowship…to do?  While all churches are called to follow Christ as a community of believers, that looks different in every church.  Worship and activities that are done may be different.  One church may be called particularly to reach out in prison ministry while another may be called to carry out a feeding program.  The point is that if every Christian is doing what he or she is called to do and every church is living out the calling God has for it – then working together – what a beautiful picture of Christ that becomes.

    That leaves out the idea that I am doing something better than you.  I am just doing what God has called me to do to the best of my abilities.  That leaves out the idea that my church is better than yours.  My church and your church are doing what God calls and we are working together towards a common goal.  We serve and follow the same Lord.  We should be working together.  That means we can celebrate the successes of others.  We can truly be excited for a church that is doing what God has called.  We can celebrate with the pianist that has faithful given her life to that calling.  It’s not a competition, it is an opportunity to work together to show the love of Christ to a world starving for it.  That’s when the Body of Christ really makes a difference.

    To conclude, I have one last thought:

    we are all crazy cartoon

    Blessings as you seek to follow Christ in what he has called YOU to do.