March 11, 2009
Subscribing
The size of our newspaper keeps shrinking and every time the bill comes I wonder if I really need to keep renewing my subscription. When yesterday’s storm dumped a few inches of snow I found myself digging all around the yard and driveway searching for a paper that, if found, may have very little to offer…other than the obituaries. In hindsight I think I did the same thing in my previous church. For years the Word of God just kept shrinking, while I continued to dig and search. I finally came to the conclusion that for me, they no longer offered enough of the Good News.
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Gail;
-----You poked and dug in the snow because you wanted the news. You knew that even a morsel of it would be better than none. Many in XYZ Church poke and dig in the snow there and find some Word, too. So service to the Lord is provided. But the problem I have with the contemporary church format is its focus on emotionalism. From the perspective of the Word upon the new life - a growth in wisdom, knowledge of the Lord, and obedience - emotion is just perfunctory. The contemporary church can not meet its general audience much more deeply than in emotion, or it may intellectually offend the marginal Christians it seeks to retain. Therefore, what Word it offers must both be kept under the snow and not be so conspicuous as to make a noticeable hump in the serene blanket.
-----But it is not human nature to poke and dig for the Word. The contemporary church might be rounding up new Christians by the hoards, however, in days like these when the line of truth is being blurred in every corner of life, the affinity for the Word is disappearing from our society. Not enough people hunger for the pure word, so you don’t see the snow of the contemporary church up and scattered around.
-----That is why I call the contemporary church the seed of the Laodicean Church. If the Word is not presented crisp and clear, and if how to rightly handle the Word is not taught diligently, then the Word will eventually recede from the life of the church. Having the Lord in your heart and the Holy Spirit guiding your life become mere expressions if they are not kept full of knowledge and insight from the Word. Yet these expressions and more will continue their hollow ring in her pop tunes like Sirens luring drifting sailors to barren rocks.
-----We have been called to a Rock that is not barren, but is covered by colorful lichens, mosses, and little forest flowers of the Word. It’s a Rock that supports life, not tricks. It’s the Rock that gave the Word. So why would we not come to that Rock making full use of the Word it gives?
Love you all,
Steve Corey
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