Perhaps I should just think less.

I’m going to post about something that has been on my mind for some time. Perhaps it is not a good idea to be so out there with my thoughts, but well, here we go anyway.

This is about ‘the church’.

I recently read the book ‘Love Jesus, Hate Church’ that I heard about from Lindsey. Now before I go any further I AM NOT recommending this book. I found it to be full of one man’s bitterness and anger due to his lifetime experience in a specific denomination of the church.

The reason I found this to be such an eye opening, albeit off-putting book, was because it showed me how a man who loves the Lord can be so hurt by His people that he no longer wants to associate with them, and goes so far as to tell others that perhaps they should leave the church also. I find this terribly sad.

I think sometimes we humans get it so very wrong that we must surely grieve the Lord. Sometimes my very own church appears more like a country club than the hands and feet of the Almighty God. So often being part of the church detracts from growing as a Christian. How can this be? Where did we go so wrong?

Sometimes I look around and wonder when looking better than the person next to me became more important than loving them. When did wearing the right outfit to church become more the focus than preparing our hearts to hear God? When did my children’s behavior at church become more about my reputation as a parent than what is best for them?

This kind of attitude is so ever-present in church these days. Not only that, but the judgment we inflict on each other is awful. Why would I share what is really on my heart, why would I ask for prayer about an issue that is plaguing me when I know I’m going to get judgment behind the prayers.

Sometimes it seems to me that Church has become more about putting on a facade than being real. Looking better than we really are, acting better than we are, being someone different on Sunday than we are the rest of the week. And if you don’t play the game, well, you don’t fit in.

I’ll tell you all right now, my family does not fit in at our church and we haven’t for years, since we started there 6 years ago. We don’t play the game; we kinda stick out like a sore thumb. We have simply decided it is okay. Both D and I have a weekly bible study that is independent of any church. It is just make up of several friends who want to meet together to study God’s word.

These are the people who keep me sharp. These are the people who are real with me, people who I feel like I can be real with. These are the people who I feel would come along beside me and walk with me through hard times (THEY HAVE) and would gently lead me back if I lost my way. THIS is what the church was ment to be.

I am not really trying to solve any great dilemmas, or answer any age old questions. I am just announcing my sadness over what it sometimes appears the church has become. We don’t always look that different than the rest of the world.

So there are my Sunday ramblings…take it with a grain of salt. I think I have too much time on my hands to think on Sundays.