10.24.04
Posted in faith at 4:24 pm by
Do you ever go to church and just not feel anything? I mean, you’ve all read my thoughts on not elevating feelings to the point of idolatry, but aren’t you supposed to feel SOMETHING? I think the point of contention is just what the “something” is supposed to be.
Some argue that that something is the divine influence of the Holy Spirit, others still say that the something is community. Some say that something is the disembodied presence of Jesus Christ. I just don’t get it.
It’s not that I’m against feeling any of those things. I guess, I just expect that the spriit of God will be present and offer me wisdom more than anything else. It all just makes me question the purpose of worship. So many different styles, so many different attempts to experience “something.”
Does it seem to anyone else that if we’re all pursuing different somethings, that while the somethings we pursue may be well and good, we’re ALL missing something?
I don’t need the perfect church. I just need a church that looks for everything that God offers to the Church. I guess that’s my esoteric reflection of the day: we’re missing the mark, we’re missing comprehensiveness in the church. Why? Because churches–unlike the Church–aren’t truly diverse. We look to hang out with those who are the same as ourselves, and we’re more likely to like those who are similar to us (see Uncertainty Reduction Theory, Charles Berger - UC Davis.)
The gigantic downfall in all of this is that we miss the mark. We sin, I guess. We fail to embrace the cultural, academic, emotional, and spiritual diversity that God blessed the Church with in individual churches. We have specialty churches. Churches that are “seeker sensitive,” churches that are liturgical, churches that are low-liturgy, churches that are academic, churches that are emotional. White churches, black churches, hispanic churches. We are divided. We explain it all away by saying, “this is good for us, we like to worship this way…and it’s fine that they do it their way and we do it ours, but we like ours.” That’s not the vision of the Church we’re given in the Bible though.
The Bible tells us that the church is to be ONE body. Not ONE body per belief or culture or style or intelligence level. Just one body.
It all makes me wonder if by fragmentation we’ve lost the Church in a tangle, a mishmosh of churches. That the SOMETHING that I’m supposed to feel, has been lost because churches have attempted to achieve unity by virtue of exclusion of diversity.
And, to me, that’s one fucked up version of unity. And though, fucked up, I cannot argue nor can I believe that it’s FUBARed. Which all leads to this question: How to proceed, gracefully?
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Posted in faith at 4:24 pm by
Do you ever go to church and just not feel anything? I mean, you’ve all read my thoughts on not elevating feelings to the point of idolatry, but aren’t you supposed to feel SOMETHING? I think the point of contention is just what the “something” is supposed to be.
Some argue that that something is the divine influence of the Holy Spirit, others still say that the something is community. Some say that something is the disembodied presence of Jesus Christ. I just don’t get it.
It’s not that I’m against feeling any of those things. I guess, I just expect that the spriit of God will be present and offer me wisdom more than anything else. It all just makes me question the purpose of worship. So many different styles, so many different attempts to experience “something.”
Does it seem to anyone else that if we’re all pursuing different somethings, that while the somethings we pursue may be well and good, we’re ALL missing something?
I don’t need the perfect church. I just need a church that looks for everything that God offers to the Church. I guess that’s my esoteric reflection of the day: we’re missing the mark, we’re missing comprehensiveness in the church. Why? Because churches–unlike the Church–aren’t truly diverse. We look to hang out with those who are the same as ourselves, and we’re more likely to like those who are similar to us (see Uncertainty Reduction Theory, Charles Berger - UC Davis.)
The gigantic downfall in all of this is that we miss the mark. We sin, I guess. We fail to embrace the cultural, academic, emotional, and spiritual diversity that God blessed the Church with in individual churches. We have specialty churches. Churches that are “seeker sensitive,” churches that are liturgical, churches that are low-liturgy, churches that are academic, churches that are emotional. White churches, black churches, hispanic churches. We are divided. We explain it all away by saying, “this is good for us, we like to worship this way…and it’s fine that they do it their way and we do it ours, but we like ours.” That’s not the vision of the Church we’re given in the Bible though.
The Bible tells us that the church is to be ONE body. Not ONE body per belief or culture or style or intelligence level. Just one body.
It all makes me wonder if by fragmentation we’ve lost the Church in a tangle, a mishmosh of churches. That the SOMETHING that I’m supposed to feel, has been lost because churches have attempted to achieve unity by virtue of exclusion of diversity.
And, to me, that’s one fucked up version of unity. And though, fucked up, I cannot argue nor can I believe that it’s FUBARed. Which all leads to this question: How to proceed, gracefully?
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Sara said,
October 25, 2004 at 11:41 am
Your first paragraph brings up an interesting topic that gets me thinking about what worship is. In our post-modern society it’s very common to have worship focus on what I should be feeling or what I should be experiencing. However, I think that is a trap too many people fall. WHY? Because worship is not about ME. It has nothing to do with whether I feel like worshipping or not, the command is TO WORSHIP. Worship, then is about giving God what He deserves and to expect nothing in return. To simplify the argument, worship is giving, not receiving. If I get joy or wisdom or something else, then great, I will go away feeling like I got something I don’t deserve. But I shouldn’t expect it. Because worship is not about me. These are just my humble opinions…I’m not trying to to argue; I’m just trying to share a my thoughts (and I’ve thought a lot about this). This is just what I’ve learned about worship. If I expect something, then too many times my feelings and emotions will color whatever “result” I’m expecting and the result will not be good enough. If I go in expecting nothing, then my worship becomes a gift I am giving to God, no matter what the worship style or type of church.
Brandon said,
October 25, 2004 at 12:05 pm
Thanks, Sara! I think you’re right.
Benjamin said,
October 25, 2004 at 9:39 pm
My wife read the first paragraph and said “How did he read my mind”. Or something like that - I’m paraphrasing from this morning.
Just Pat said,
October 25, 2004 at 11:52 pm
Brandon, I believe we are the “body” Paul spoke of, even if we are quadriplegic and brain dead. And I agree that we aren’t FUBAR; we just need to begin to acknowledge that all our parts are important and worthy of attention.
I agree with Sara’s comment, to the extent that we learn humility and obedience by worshipping God without strings attached. But, I believe we can and should expect Him to respond. We’re very accustomed to expecting quick returns on our investments, and when the God’s response isn’t quick, we tend to feel abandoned.