Leaning Forward

We're comfortable...

We're comfortable with routine, we're comfortable with expectations, we're comfortable with the standard, and we're comfortable with sustaining...

In a recent conversation with a friend I was talking about the Praise&Worship ministry that I am a leader of at school... I was talking about a vision where rather than the community of worshipers leaning forward to and anticipating each Thursday night worship gathering, they would view it as an opportunity to lean back or "touch down"...

By this I mean that the community would be reaching out in this world and seeking out God's face in the hungry, the oppressed, the naked, and the voiceless, and then would take our worship gathering as a time to meet as a community that cries out to the Lord through song and builds each other up...

Too often I receive comments from people that make it seem that our gathering is the one hour they come to get filled up and then rather than spending the other 167 hours of the week pouring out the Love of Christ and being the hands and feet of God, they self-indulge and sit around waiting for the next week of "emotional pump up time".

I am far from adequate... I am selfish, prideful, undisciplined, jealous, reserved, and awkward... So I am by no means saying that I have got things under wraps, but I am currently trying to lean forward in my life, rather than always leaning back and then jumping to attention during Sunday morning or Thursday night "worship".

I don't know if this analogy works... It makes sense in my mind, but one of my failings is communication... so if this is nothing more than a giant rambling for you I am sorry, but it has helped me work a few things out... so maybe this post is just for me...

And that's all I have to say about that...

Let's get them sinners and turn em' into Saints! - ???

So I'm in an Evangelism class right now... and it's bogus.

My professor has all the makings of an exciting teacher. He is from Africa, he is a pastor, and has had some crazy experiences... But this remains in the top 3 worst classes I have taken my entire life.

Our big assignment for the course was to go out and manufacture a relationship with a "sinner" to get them to turn to Christ and to record the process in a journal.

I can not explain to you how hollow and sleazy that feels... Christ calls us to love people. There is a lot involved with loving people (most of which I don't yet understand) and I am sure that building up faulty friendships with the intent of "exploiting" them and then moving on if the effort seems futile is not what Christ had in mind. I understand how necessary it is to share the 'good news', and I recognize that there is a definite sense of urgency involved, as we don't know what tomorrow holds for us. But I cannot get beyond the cheapness of a hollow relationship.

St. Francis of Assisi said, "Preach the Gospel at all times and when necessary use words."

I don't want to reduce sharing faith to just living your life or to give permission to be lazy evangelists, as this quote has been abused by so many, but I do think that inherent in loving people is the desire to share the 'good news' with them and to offer a helping hand as a true friend.

How do we get past the mentality of exploiting friendships, while still pursuing people who do not know the Lord?
How do we balance being lazy/timid proclaimers of our faith and trying to primarily show Christ through our day to day lives?
What part does Post-Modern Relativism play in this whole thing? I have been doing a lot of reading regarding 'emerging' generations and churches and am still trying to get a grasp on the level of pluralism and relativism that is inherent in Post-Modernity, but what approaches do we as Christians take in response to the troublesome aspects that come along with some of the freedoms and exciting parts of Post-Modernism?

And that's all I have to say about that...

Production Sunday?

Easter Sunday is an interesting day in the life of the Church. On one hand, there is the immeasurable joy that is celebrated in the fact that Jesus Christ, the one who fed the hungry, healed the blind, and spoke of peace is risen! On the other hand in American Christianity, Easter Sunday is one of two Sundays a year that pews are overflowing...

How do most local churches respond to this sudden influx of Creasters?

In my experience, churches spend significantly more time and energy preparing for the Easter Sunday worship gathering than the "regular" services. I have recently heard at least 8 or 9 church administrators/pastors/worship leaders say something like, "oh I will be so glad once were past Easter." Easter has become some laborious landmark along the way in the church calendar.

Why?

Is it so that we can glorify God through various ways on this exciting day in our faith?
Or is there frequently an underlying intention to impress all the visitors with our "production"?
Do we become self-glorifying and prideful when we try to compress all sorts of things into our worship gatherings that are not normally there? Skits, videos, special musics, choirs, special lighting/fog, dramatic backdrops, flowers, etc...
Where is that line between ordering a worship service so that it is smooth, flowing, and includes various elements and technologies, and simply putting on some "Jesus" production?
Are worship gatherings that are structured in the traditional way actually worship? or are they by nature an act of theater or show?
How do we continuously think about removing ourselves as distractions and allowing people to worship when it is practically in the job description to be a noticeable presence on a stage leading the body in worship?

There are countless questions, and I have just been wondering a lot lately if what we traditionally know as "church" and worship services are anything close to what God has called us to, and are what is actually edifying to the body.

And that's all I have to say about that...