The Problem with the Church
Talk of the church has become my pastime. “Do you want to know what frustrates me about the church,” I begin. I qualify my statements and couch them in questions. After all I am not so arrogant to suppose I have all of the answers. “I am just looking for what honors God.” That sounds so thoughtful in a spiritual sort of way. “We need to get back to the early church...” I idealistically explain to others who thoughtfully stroke their chins and nod in approval. “The problem with the church is...” I rant I blog I talk about what I don’t like, what I do not prefer.
I have discovered that talk about the church is juicy, I can go on for hours. I have been deceived into believing that such talk is safe. I take freedom in my speculations and gossip because there is no face to my attack, just a ambiguous blob of misguided people. “If I could just help them see that things should not be this way,” I arrogantly presume to have a clue.
Perhaps the problem with the church is me. I can’t help but think that what ought to occupy my time and conversation is the Lord of the church not defining acceptable, relevant worship services and pretending to care more about the church than the One who refers to her as His Bride.
I have discovered that talk about the church is juicy, I can go on for hours. I have been deceived into believing that such talk is safe. I take freedom in my speculations and gossip because there is no face to my attack, just a ambiguous blob of misguided people. “If I could just help them see that things should not be this way,” I arrogantly presume to have a clue.
Perhaps the problem with the church is me. I can’t help but think that what ought to occupy my time and conversation is the Lord of the church not defining acceptable, relevant worship services and pretending to care more about the church than the One who refers to her as His Bride.
posted by goz at 6:55 AM
1 Comments:
I know this is a 3-month tardy comment, but...
Maybe there's a different way to think about this question... We know there are plenty of problems in the church, some come from "me" & some don't. But perhaps our recognition of personal culpability ought not weaken our critical observation on where the local church is broken or infected for reasons other than me. Perhaps we should take extra care not to confuse loyalty to Christ & His Church (big 'C') with loyalty to the local institutions we have created in the name of church. Perhaps a healthy dose of disloyalty to the innovations of mankind is what the Church & churches really need right now. After all, what if you are one of those to whom God has revealed such truths of error? Ought not we give attention to & steward such prophetic discontent wisely? I realize that smells like trouble & sounds risky... but if it's an issue of obedience, what choice do we have?
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