I just received, The New Christians, Dispatches from the Emergent Frontier a new book by Tony Jones. I am anxious to see where Tony takes us in his new book. I am sure of two things:
1. He will use a lot of big words, which means I will have to have my dashboard dictionary widget up and running.
2. He will be provocative (and probably heretical… but remember heresy is just contrary thinking to Orthodox belief… Galileo was a heretic until Orthodox belief changed it’s stance).
As many of you may know, this subject is of special interest to me because of my stance on the normal Sunday church experience, of which I usually skip out on and instead opt for a long bike ride, a camping trip, a fly-fishing trip, or just a relaxing (lazy) Sunday morning.
Adam Martin (a great friend of mine, who was not the originator of this quote) says that, “He would rather be fishing and thinking about God than sitting in a pew, thinking about fishing.” This from a Wrangler wearing Catholic who loves Jesus.
So in my anticipation, I have a few thoughts.
1. Yes, God works in all sorts of ways, using all sorts of people, circumstances, and things… but did he really intend for us to wake up on Sunday mornings, drive to a building, sing songs, greet one another, sit, listen, pray, and leave? I am not trying to be divisive, but kind of… Have we mistaken an emotional response to a church program as a “movement of God” in our lives?
2. If it is a movement of God, why the dissonance in attitudes and the apathy in response? As soon as the car exits the parking lot, the good feeling begins to wane and we are left with something much like an addicts response… when can I get that feeling again?
3. Why isn’t emotionally driven religion fulfilling? Why do I have to keep going back to church to bask in the presence of God? Why can’t God be with me all day, refilling my cup, guiding my steps and driving me to joy?
4. Re-reading the above is a bit depressing, as I don’t want to sound like Debby Downer… who constantly chides the church for being something it isn’t. Namely God. But I say all this because I have been part of a community that is the church, without the label of church. I’ve seen a body of believers rally around a cause, love people and affect change. I’ve witnessed the balance of the body of Christ, where one is weak another is strong. And the reason I get so damned incensed is because I know what many are missing out on… True fellowship is not potluck Sunday, but rather River Clean-up Saturday… that true fellowship happens around an action of love.
Ok, enough. Tony may not even delve into any of the topics I just ranted on… but the thoughts still ping-pong through my mind… I do not think I am bitter at the Church, though some have accused me of such. I am more frustrated than bitter… And I long for a change from the self-serving program to the self-sacrificing service.
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I believe the original is, “I would rather be in the mountains thinking about God than sitting in church thinking about the mountains.”
Fishing? Please.
heresy. how else is the church to get your monies?
I totally echo the question in your first #3. I never got that. But I do think a lot of churches are doing the best they can (or the best they know how). We know the earliest Christians got together on the “Lord’s Day,” fellowshipping and exhorting one another. We also know that worship (typically through music) is something God enjoys and is equally good for us to give Him. I don’t believe one person’s worship is more valuable in a group than while fishing, but there is something pretty neat about a crowd of people lifting up their voices in unison.
So I think the Biblical model for Sunday church is good, but in practice it gets mucked up. There’s nothing wrong with potlucks, as long as you’re also dishing out food together at a soup kitchen.
I am blessed to go to a church that I think follows the New Testament model admirably, so I may have no room to talk. But I grew up in a church that was very different from that and it makes me sad now. But the point is, it’s important to forge relationships with other brothers and sisters, and church is almost always the best jumping in point (jumping in, not staying in). And this isn’t even taking into account the value of good, sound teaching from a pastor…unless you know some eloquent fishies out there
good words miss lane… i think that the problems are so easily identified and the good that is church, sometimes gets lost in the discussion. It is not worship that I’m critical of, nor am I critical of fellowship with believers that church affords… I am critical of the program, the good that is worship, fellowship, food, and biblical teaching, has at times, become a habitual response to God… something that has taken out of the equation a relationship, with others and with God.
If the goal of Church is a bigger building, a bigger budget, and a bigger wallet… it has moved from the goal of the Gospels.