What Are We Doing and How Did We Get Here?

I haven’t written a blog in over a year. When I saw my last entry was over a year ago, that shook me. I didn’t realize it had been that long.

I offer no excuses. I really don’t feel like I’ve had much to say. Life has happened in so many ways…and in ways I didn’t feel I could write about. But today I feel inspired and for that I am grateful.

I say “I am grateful.” But how can I really be grateful when the emotion that led me here is…despair—despair for the entity that calls itself “The Church.” I am not criticizing. I am lamenting. I am a member of said entity and the entity has failed their members and their community.

Here’s an example, and I really can’t explain it any better than this. I was shopping in a local charity store this week that plays Christian music while you shop. It’s soothing, and it’s kind of comforting in a way, if you grew up in the Jesus culture, like I did. The song that played was an unfamiliar one, but the lyrics were mind-numbing in their repetition. The lyrics were merely “I don’t want to be afraid.” Over and over again, ad infinitum—to the point where I was thinking “Just get over it already, and stop being a little wimp!” I’ll admit this was not a very charitable thing to be thinking in a charity shop, but doggone it, be a warrior, for goodness sakes! And lest anyone think I’m uncompassionate, I get it. We are all fearful sometimes on some level. But repeating a mantra about it does not help the situation. All it does is bring fear to the forefront of our minds instead of focusing on the One who has the power to eliminate the fear. At any rate, I digress…

So…this started me thinking…a dangerous thing that doesn’t always end well. My thought was “How did we as a body of believers in the most powerful God in the universe regress to this?” How did we go from “Fairest Lord, Jesus, ruler of all nature? O thou of God and man the Son. Thee will I cherish, Thee will I honor, Thou my soul’s glory, joy and crown” to “I don’t wanna be afraid,” repeated ad nauseum? Where did we go wrong? What happened to words like “Great is Thy faithfulness, O God my Father. There is no shadow of turning with Thee. Thou changest not, Thy compassions, they fail not. As Thou hast been, Thou forever will be?’ We have re-created the image of the Almighty God into the image of ourselves. Convenient, but utterly incorrect.

The Church has believed the lie that we must look and sound like pop culture in order to be relevant. I get it. Everyone wants to be appealing and feel validated for their faith. It’s an enticing path, and one that’s, at strictly face value, ingenious. At the core, though, we have exchanged Truth for convenience. We have sold Faithfulness for ease. We have prostituted Righteousness for emotion. In other words, we have stunk it up. But don’t you think that basic humanism has miserably failed our society? Societal programming has never satisfied. It’s never helped a single blind person to see. It’s never healed the sick. It’s never sat at night with a sick friend and wiped their fevered brow. It’s never helped a single individual to not be afraid—in fact, the culture itself is permeated with fear—fear that the emperor has no clothes.

Can we somehow gat back the hearts of worship? Can we somehow realize that eveything doesn’t have to be about us personally? Can we focus a minute on the King of Kings and Lord of Lords? Can we do that, please? Can we lay aside our offences and our pride and just sit in God’s presence, humble and meek? Can we read His Word and let it guide our day? Can we just take a minute and take a breath for Jesus?

Folks, I live in the same world you do. I am guilty, too. We all are. To quote Francis Chan, “The God of the universe—the creator of nitrogen and pine needles, galaxies and E-minor—loves us with a radical, unconditional, self-sacrificing love. And what is our typical response? We go to church, sing songs, and try not to cuss.” Brothers and sisters, this should not be! Our response should be breathtaking, entraptured, invigorating, undeniable, passionate, heart-wrenching. In short, it should be life altering. Instead, it’s somehow turned into merely an exercise we do to make ourselves feel good about…ourselves.

I don’t know what the answer is. All I can say is I’m making a turn. This has GOT to be all about Jesus, or it isn’t about anything at all.

God bless. Maranatha! Grace and peace rest upon you all.