Church

Last night and this morning, Deb said she was not at all looking forward to going to church.

"But you're singing, right? You enjoy that."

"Yeah, I do like singing and I like the people, but I hate going to church."

I guess these words are pretty provocative. I remember often dreading going to church growing up--at least as far as having to sit through my dad's long, boring sermons. But I always assumed it would get better. I thought that when I became an adult like my parents, I would long for Sunday mornings the way they do, and I would hang on every word being sung in every hymn and every word being read from every passage of Scripture. I would feel the effect of those impassioned words getting caught in my father's throat, and I would empathize with those tears that stream from my mother's eyes when she sings a song to Jesus.

Ever since I stepped into "adulthood" my freshman year, I've had no yearning for any church I've attended. However, I do have a yearning for the church that will make it their intention to present the Gospel in such a way that I do hunger after it. After three years of church hopping in Fredericksburg, I started wondering whether I'm being too picky. I know that I won't find a perfect church, so I shouldn't expect that. But can't I at least expect that the chief aim of the church I attend will be to present the Gospel as it is without an over-arching emphasis on "becoming all things to all men?"

 ^"19Though I am free and belong to no man, I make myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible. ²⁰To the Jews I became like a Jew, to win the Jews. To those under the law I became like one under the law (though I myself am not under the law), so as to win those under the law. ²¹To those not having the law I became like one not having the law (though I am not free from God's law but am under Christ's law), so as to win those not having the law. ²²To the weak I became weak, to win the weak. I have become all things to all men so that by all possible means I might save some. ²³I do all this for the sake of the gospel, that I may share in its blessings." -1 Corinthians 9: 19-23

 Paul does make it very clear that who we are is only important by measures of our malleability in being who God wants us to be. I may not be the best at speaking encouraging words to people, but God demands that I encourage my fellow believers; that's when I have to say "get over yourself" to my natural inhibitions and work toward doing and saying those things that God wants done and said. I expect the Gospel to be penetrating the weakness of my sinful heart.

So I expect it to do the same at church. I don't want my church to become all things to all men and lose sight of the Gospel in the process. We are to enslave ourselves to others for the purposes of God. We are not to enslave God to others for the purposes of our own.

I could be exaggerating a bit. I may be making a bigger deal out of things than I should. Wherever my thoughts on this are wrong or twisted are where I am finding it impossible to feel like I can be much part of any church congregation in Fredericksburg, and I am well convinced that this is not okay. So I am open to reproof. I need correction.