August 27, 2009
Choke Hold
There are times when church attendance can fall under the umbrella of obligation and we grudgingly attend services. Maybe it’s during our teens when our parents tell us we have to go, or it could be when we’ve overcommitted and have nursery duty for six months. And then there’s the spiritual dry spell when you leave a worship service feeling no different than when you walked in the door. I think even the faithful can occasionally find themselves being unfaithful. “Still others…hear the word; but the worries of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth and the desires for other things come in and choke the word, making it unfruitful.” (Mark 4:18-19 NIV) I hate it when the worries of the world follow me into worship.
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5 comments:
Gail;
-----I get more from Sunday School than I get from the worship service, and I put more into Sunday School, too. I like a class that tends toward discussion rather than lecture. There is opportunity for exchange in it, while the worship service and the lecture class are very one way. Granted, much good can be said for a one way format. It is effective for teaching new points and perspectives not yet encountered by the participants. But the more its points and perspectives are familiar, the less effective that style becomes. After some thirty years of participating in church and studying the Bible, there are not a whole lot of points and perspectives that are entirely new to me. So, I often find today’s church format to be what you describe.
-----I keep looking at I Corinthians 14:26-33 and wishing the worship service was formatted more like it. I don’t mean that I am Pentecostally, looking for a lot of speaking in tongues and higher plane, spiritualistic prophesy and stuff like that. But I mean that I see more interchange and fellowshipping in the gatherings described by the Word, more participation than just exchanging some gratuitous handshakes and smiles, then sitting on a bench to sing a few songs you’ve sang over and over and over the last thirty Sunday’s before listening to the same guy you’ve listened to for even longer tell you what he thinks while expecting you to think it is what the Lord also thinks.
-----Paul describes an event to which each person comes with a hymn, a lesson, or a revelation, (not actually every one, but we know what he means), and I guess maybe a tongue and an interpretation. In our churches today, it is the music minister who comes with the tunes, the preacher who comes with the lessons and revelations, and who really knows about the tongues. The participation and interaction which Paul implied have been minimized by structure and organization. The church still holds high the encouragement and edification so important in Paul’s writings, but when you see the few elements of the picture he paints of the gathering, you see these happen through less structure and more interaction.
-----Since the new life is about the believer’s intermingling with a community of believers, the water of that life flows more freely through the interactions of those having it. And that is why we go to church, to get wet and to wet others. I’m not saying the way church is done today is dry. It has it’s water. But getting to that water in these structured worship services is more like digging into the ground for a spring, or cutting into a barrel cactus, than it is like simply having a burbling stream at foot to stick your face into. After all, the validating part of worship is to be as much as possible like the one you worship. God is greatly participatory in our lives. Why would participation amongst one another then not be a great part of worship?
Love you all,
Steve Corey
Hhhmmmm... very interesting, Steve. Even though I really enjoy going to church and listening to our pastor,I feel much the same way about having more participation and interaction from more people, with less organization and structure. Seems like that worked in Acts; could it work today?
Have you ever watched the movies called "Church Outside the Walls"? We've only watched one so far, but it was very interesting.
I also enjoy a website called LifeStream.org (I think that's right.)
For Him,
Arlene
Arlene;
-----Could it work today? I think it could definitely work today. In fact, I think it is working today in many of His gatherings. There is a movement back to home churches of which I heard a year or so ago. If I recall correctly, I think Gail blogged about the concern they seemed to pose to the mega-church format. But even within the mega-church there is an effort to achieve this effect through what they call the small-group. Personally, I believe it is dependent upon each of the hearts that gather, that is, their willingness to stay close to the message of the Word and act according to what they find in it, their openness to the conditions the Holy Spirit builds from that amongst them, and definitely upon the more influential among them being disposed to do likewise. All that insinuates that it can happen in more than the home church, because, actually, it happens in the hearts of those who gather.
-----I have never heard of “Church Outside the Walls.” Char (my blessing disguised as a wife) and I both love good movies, and we particularly love good Christian movies. Where do you suppose we could get our hands on this series?
Love you all,
Steve Corey
Check out Familyroommedia.com. The series is available there. It's a 4-part documentary.
I'm anxious to watch the rest of the series. I'm sure I'll learn something, whether I entirely agree with them or not.
For Him,
Arlene
Arlene;
Thank you
Steve
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