Let the Church Say
‘Amen’: Part 1
This
is my experience of ‘Church’:
An hour and a half service that includes
announcements that you probably heard last week. Somehow a lot changes in a
day, but not much happens in a week apparently…at least at church. Praise and
worship that’s scheduled for 15 minutes turns out to be a half hour because
sister Brown can’t hear herself in the monitors enough and the drummer didn’t
arrive on time. Don’t worry if you
missed any of the announcements from earlier. The pastor is about to get up and
cover a few again because it seems that we all missed the first memo about how
much it’s going to take to fix up the back parking lot for the church picnic
coming up. He need not mention needing money for the new robes for the choir.
And with all the new members coming in we should most definitely give towards
the need of expanding the church. Yes, you may see empty seats around you every
week, but that’s just temporary. Now hold on before you tuck that wallet away,
it’s almost time for the offering right after they accept donations for next week’s
speaker. Back to the new members, let’s all just take a break and greet
everyone around us as if we weren’t just talking to them in the main lobby. We
may even smile and shake a hand with a stranger who we’ll never see again.
Isn’t that exciting? After all that is said and done, we understand that you
might have missed that entire half hour of worship due to trying to talk
yourself into coming in the first place. So, lets do it again!
Now don’t you dare think the pastor would come up
and have the nerve to teach before his wife had the chance to greet the congregation,
knowing full well she’d rather not. This gives you all a chance to critique her
new outfit, talk about the latest gossip you have on her, and give her a smile
feedback of fakeness. Finally we can enjoy the pastor come and give us an
encouraging story about his week prior, building our faith just enough to walk
out feeling motivated. God is good! But it’s not over. And then? He finally
starts the sermon for the day. Oh no, of course he wouldn’t leave you with just
that 25-minute testimony. After all, we know you spent your precious time in a
work-filled week to wake up early and spend your whole day hearing about his.
Never would he let you go without the full on details. It appeared to be a
message, however you might have not been able to hear it as well as you’d like
due to your stomach growling at you in regret. Now before you go and bump into
the hurdles of people who like to stay longer for extra God points, we have
just a few more announcements! These are basically to make sure you come prepared
next week to give. Whoops! To all
of our newcomers, the ones we fake met when we were greeting the people we
already knew? Yes you! Don’t forget to spend another 20 of your minutes filling
out this paperwork we have for you so we can give you more announcements on
paper! All we need from you is your first name, last name, address, date of
birth, social security #, the church you last attended, why you stopped &
how you heard about us? Once you’re done with that SAT we’ll give you a nice
packet in hopes that you come again next week and bring a friend with you to
make the time go by faster. Just make sure to inform your friend:
Depending on which Sunday it is, brace yourself- it
could be Baby Dedication Sunday, communion Sunday, the 3rd of the
month (which means nothing but its still titled “3rd Sunday of the
month”).
Make sure you have on Sundays best because who are
YOU to be too good to dress up for the Lord? You said you speak to Him
everyday? And He knows what you look like? Doesn’t matter- put your heels on. God
knows what you look like but Pastor Paul is going to think you weren’t raised right.
Put the nice socks on your baby too, with the frill!
Now go on and get yourself
something to eat because during that time today will probably be when you will
be the most appreciative of God Himself! And hey good news for you for coming
today-- 2 more heaven points have been added to your chart! Yayy!
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And this is why I hate
religion, and have lost all hope for organized church.
Now
please don’t get me wrong, NOT ALL CHURCHES are like this. I’m not trying to be
a spokesperson for “church” or even bash its existence, because it’s needed.
However, I’m over the idea of what the world thinks it’s supposed to be. The
world, which let me be clear satan is the god of, has people thinking God is
seeking your religion. Everything that I just mentioned above has nothing to do
with your relationship with God and that is what He craves the most! He wants
to know you but more importantly He wants you to know Him.
These magazines, these newsstands we keep up with
about our favorite celebrity help us understand who they are on the surface. We
know Will Smith has a wife, a few kids, been in an abundance of movies, etc.
However we may not know about his personal goals or which ones meant the most
to him when he reached them. No matter what research we do, unless we
personally know Will Smith and spend time with him, all we can do is appreciate
the idea of him on the surface.
God doesn’t want that surface appreciation. He
doesn’t simply want you to just know what others think about Him and how He’s
been involved in their life. He wants to be involved in yours! God doesn’t
tally how many times you made it to church in a week, or month, or if you made
it for the special holidays. He doesn’t judge you based on your attendance at
mass. It’s so much deeper than that.
Despite what many think, Gods favorite day is not
Sunday. His favorite days are the days you choose to seek Him, spend time with
Him, and grow in your relationship with Him.
The ‘Church’ is often looked at as a representative
of Christ, that of which the people in it should be. However, the worst part is
that many churches have lost the focus for the heart of the people. All while
that is the main focus God has. They instead look at the business of it all
& the numbers that come with it. They lose sight of the judgment and
condemnation that stems from the ‘church attitude’, and what breaks my heart
the most, is that this is how God is being represented to the world.
It doesn’t matter whether you show out for God every
Sunday, Wednesday, and Thursday. It matters whether you show up and open the
door He’s been knocking on [Revelation 3:20].
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