Neglecting the Armor of God

What part of the armor of God (Ephesians 6: 10-20) do you neglect?  Do we have our shield, our helmet, our breastplate, our shoes?  Are we armed with a sword?  Or, are we just surviving, day-by-day?

Why do I go to Church?

      It is relatively accepted that while most Americans claim they believe in God, they have walked away from “institutional religion.” On the one hand, there are those who have left the churches they have grown up in or attended for many years because they are disillusioned by the controversies, the fighting, the focus on institutional politics rather than on God. These people say they are not hearing in church the transformative gospel that Jesus proclaimed, the Gospel that calls us to change and grow for the sake of a broken world. They can say that because at one time or another they did hear that gospel, probably in church -- but they now see churches that seem to have lost their way.

 

      On the other hand, there are the Seekers and the unchurched, people who were not raised in any religion and who are curious about what Christianity is all about. Some of these folks wander into churches and encounter the gospel in something they hear, or in the experience of worship -- but many others I’ve talked to have been just puzzled: they have basic questions about why we do what we do, why we use the words that we do, and often no place to take those questions.

 

Why do I keep going to church? 
      What is it, for me, that makes the desire to worship so strong that it doesn’t matter whether services are sometimes boring or people in churches are fighting?What is our testimony, those of us who do keep showing up, week after week, for worship? Why church at all?

 

      In an interview reported by Barbara Bradley Haggerty, a churchgoer says that the church “puts skin on God.” “Putting skin on God” - I like that. It expresses what I hope is true: that it is possible for human beings to draw near to be touched by, a mystery that is beyond our full comprehension and in our gathering to lend a human face, a story to that Mystery that we experience as also reaching out to us.

 

     That’s the main reason I go to church, I think, even in a culture where it seems fewer & fewer people do so. I want to spend some time each week around people who have glimpsed the same hope, and who express that hope by gathering together, in words, song, bodily movement. Even when it’s inconvenient or I don’t feel like it, even when some of the people irritate me, showing up regularly in this way does me good. I would even say that over the years it has been a transformative practice for me.

 

     The stories we tell, the words we use, the prayers we say in church, if I listen to the words, proclaim that there is something greater than me or even than “us”, the particular people gathered on a given Sunday. When we gather for worship, we are putting ourselves in the presence of something bigger than all of us. And there is something powerful about our gathering to listen to these words together, even as we may hear different things on any given Sunday.

 

     For me the practice of going to church is a way of saying, to myself, to God, to the world, “I want to be part of the Better Thing that is still happening, even beneath and within the brokenness of the world around us. And I know that in order for this to happen, I need to keep growing and changing.”

 

     It is also true that a little time spent in governance and leadership in church be very discouraging. And it is a tough time in history to be someone whose livelihood depends on the church as it is currently structured, so it is no wonder that many clergy are disillusioned and angry, though many others are rising to the challenges. We can get so anxious about institutional survival and so embroiled in our own power struggles that we wind up wounding each other and losing track of what we’re doing here. I do understand why so many people leave the church and decide they can live the teaching of Jesus better outside it, undistracted by the human ugliness that is so particularly distressing in many church “families.” And yet for those of us who stay, the hard work of listening to one another, holding one another accountable and seeking forgiveness and reconciliation is part of what helps us grow in faith. Life in community, with all its messiness, is part of the answer to “Why Church?”

 

 

Walking in the Flesh or the Spirit of God

Living the Christian life in a secular world is not easy.  Often we find ourselves "justifying" the whats and hows of our lives -- the whys.

Being a Christian does not mean isolating ourselves from the world and the non-Christians.  It means knowing who you are in the face of non-Christians.  Are we followers of Christ first or citizens of the world first?

Chick-fil-a

I had several persons ask me to go with them to "Chick-fil-a" on Wednesday.  The prayer group and two calls.  I did not go.  Why?

First of all, the owners of Chick-fil-a and I share a common understanding of traditional marrage.  The owners have the right to share what they are sharing. 

Second, there are outstanding issues/suits/concerns facing Chick-fil-a.  There is a question on whether or not Chick-fil-a has hired / fired on the basis of sexual orientation. Another recent case deals with a woman who may or may not have been fired because she was a single mom.  Some cases have been settled "out-of-court" while others are in the waiting stage. It was due to these legal cases the question (concerning marrage) was first asked to the owners of Chick-fil-a.

Third, the politics of the culture wars have taken charge of the issue. It is no longer about Chick-fil-a and its owners.  It has become "Black and White" in a Gray world.


As we consider this and other questions, we need to ask ourselves, "What are we to do first?"  As Christians, we are called, first and foremost, to love God and to love people.  We are to be a church where people who struggle can know they will be loved.  As with other similar issues, I believe Jesus would reach out to persons who are different (i.e. homosexual) and love them.  This does not condone the action, but condones the person (John 8).