Grace
It seems to me that there is no room for grace in the church anymore. I have recently heard of yet another situation where the messenger has been the one to take the beating. It feels as though the house of God is becomming a house of closed doors, crossed arms and easy judgement. Maybe I'm just biased. If I was being totally honest right now, my level of desire to get involved in a church is pretty low. Slim to nil. My desire to have a loving caring community of friends and family who I spend time with often and grow with is still right up there, but add the word church in there and I want to turn my back.
This is not to say any of my beliefs have changed, or that my desire to grow and enrich myself spiritually and walk with God is any less. In fact, it is almost more, because I want to figure out why all this stuff is happening. Why is the institutionof the church hurting people? Why is the desire for a community so convoluted when we add church into it? Why am I hurting because of church?
*Big sigh*
These are questions that I don't even want to face most of the time. But it seems this is the prevalent issue for me right now. I don't really expect answers, and I don't expect most people to agree with my assessment. I know full well that I am biased by pain. However, this is my experience. It's where I'm at.
That's what a blog is for after all... isn't it?
This is not to say any of my beliefs have changed, or that my desire to grow and enrich myself spiritually and walk with God is any less. In fact, it is almost more, because I want to figure out why all this stuff is happening. Why is the institutionof the church hurting people? Why is the desire for a community so convoluted when we add church into it? Why am I hurting because of church?
*Big sigh*
These are questions that I don't even want to face most of the time. But it seems this is the prevalent issue for me right now. I don't really expect answers, and I don't expect most people to agree with my assessment. I know full well that I am biased by pain. However, this is my experience. It's where I'm at.
That's what a blog is for after all... isn't it?
posted by Rach at 10:53 AM
5 Comments:
Hey Rach, well I guess the pat answer is that while the church is Godly, the people in it aren't. There's a hierarchy in which people are "more chistian" and need to be immitated. There's a code of conduct that you're suppose to live up to and anyone outside the group that threatens it is pushed away. Now that the pc bs is done, I don't actually have a clue why it's this way when it's polar opposite to how Christ has taught us to be. I think the only time I really enjoyed "real church" is when I first became a Christian and was in that mindness euphoric phase when all is good with the world. Maybe people feel God more in the time spent just hanging out with friends for the same reasons He can be felt more in secular vs. church music or in fictious novels vs. theology books. You don't feel as beat over the head with it. But that may just be me. I've been serious for too long, I need to go back to my pointless, silly blog now. Take care.
I see two glaring issues that directly impact this reality (I know there are more but these are two that are most obvious). The first is that churches are too big, plain and simple. With the mega-church models that we are fed there is little emphasis on actual personal interaction or involvement. The more people you have to take care of the more beaurocracy you get, it's unavoidable. Even mega-churches that are "successful" adopt things like cell groups or other smaller units to offer a more intimate solution. So why not just have millions of small groups in people's communities wherever they are? Why fight it?
The other problem, and I admit it is tied to the first, is that churches are run like businesses: financially, governmentally, membershipically, grammatically, ecumenically. I think this is more at the heart of our issue here. The biiger the church is the tighter control has to be taken over it to make sure money is there, people are filling the pews, and that whatever other contrived means of measuring "success" are present. People, money, assets, programs, and staff are all reduced to bottom lines.
Your title reminded me of the U2 song:
Grace
She takes the blame
She covers the shame
Removes the stain
It could be her name
Grace
It's a name for a girl
It's also a thought that
Changed the world
And when she walks on the street
You can hear the strings
Grace finds goodness
In everything
Grace
She's got the walk
Not on a ramp or on chalk
She's got the time to talk
She travels outside
Of karma, karma
She travels outside
Of karma
When she goes to work
You can hear the strings
Grace finds beauty
In everything
Grace
She carries a world on her hips
No champagne flute for her lips
No twirls or skips
Between her fingertips
She carries a pearl
In perfect condition
What once was hurt
What once was friction
What left a mark
No longer stings
Because grace makes beauty
Out of ugly things
Grace finds beauty
In everything
Grace finds goodness
In everything
Can't we all just get along!?
Then how did the Sol Cafe, which wasn't one of those super-churches with the marketing plan and bottom line philosophies, leave me like this? Why? Because I was willing to ris? because I thought it would be different? Because I wanted it SO bad, and had it in my fingertips? ... It's definately given me a lot to think about in terms of what I want to do about church. It's life experience I suppose.
I am reminded of Garden State:
"That's life, you know, it's real, sometimes it ****** hurts, but it's kind of all we have, you know?" This is my theme movie.
Of which Church do you speak? Is it the traditional Church who has always embodied a similar set of mores, or the new Secular Church that tells us that anything we do as humans is good and must be celebrated?
MY DAD HAS A BLOG!!!! SOOOOOO EXCITING! Click on GT on the comment above to check it out, I'm not sure if he's posted yet or not. YAY!
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