I have a confession to make. Maybe your experience is like mine, maybe not... but I rarely enjoy going to church. I don't think it's the church's fault, I know that quite a few people like going to this particular church. I don't. But that's been true of most of my church experience wherever I've been. Boring, mostly irrelevant sermons, lifeless music, nice people you don't connect with. It's not always like that, but way more often than not. It feels, many times, like God's not there.
Now, I know that's not true. Jesus promised that where 2 or more are gathered in His Name, there He would be also. But I read this story, and I wonder if we've got it wrong.
Here, the Pharisees get all grumpy because Jesus is hanging out with the tax collectors and sinners. I assume there's some jealousy there; they want Him to being hanging out with them. But Jesus doesn't hang out with their type, He hangs out with the sinners.
We expect Jesus to hang out with us. We expect Jesus to be at our services, our prayer meetings, etc. But that's not where He hung out, why should we expect Him to do so now? He hung out with the sinners, so maybe that's where we'll find Him now. I know in my own life, I've felt much more in tune with God being involved in some sort of ministry. Whether it's street ministry, evangelism, sitting and sharing with someone (not that I do these things often... or well... or am anything less than scared to death of those things), I think I've experienced God better in these venues than I ever have in church.
I know it's not all cut and dry. There's not a formula involved, but it's interesting to stop and think about my experiences and realize what the trends have been. I heard of a church in the area that skips the traditional Sunday Service once a month and does some sort of service project out in the community. That sounds like a step in the right direction. I'm not the sort of person who could spearhead something like that, but I'm sure I could get into the groove of being involved.
Anyway, those are just some random thoughts on the subject at 4:30 in the morning...
2 comments:
I sometimes feel the same way about church. I had started some service projects with the kids in the fall but have dropped the ball a bit. It was hard work but it was good work and I did feel close to God there.
I'd be interested in knowing what kind of projects you've done with the kids. I always figure that I'm doing the kids a disservice by not being involved in some sort of service.
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