Last night, I finally had a breakthrough from some rough stuff I’ve been dealing with. I feel like the sun just came out after a storm. My body’s still not 100%, but that’s trivial. Anyhow, as I was resting in the Lord this afternoon, I found myself thinking about how much we/I criticize the church in America. At the same time, I realized with some conviction that we don’t spend much time meditating on what’s right with it (at least I don’t). We condemn much more than we affirm. And I thought of this trial I’ve been going through and how often I’ve blown it and I realized that the Lord never stopped affirming me through it. He convicted me, but with a Mighty Love. Part of my problem hearing Him lately has been the condemnation I’ve felt about my own failures. And I wonder how that might apply to the Church’s need to change.
Most of us agree there are problems with the Bride–compromise, greed, shallowness, etc. But we ARE the church. These are OUR problems ultimately, and I’m wondering if maybe some time affirming what’s RIGHT here might heal us enough to address the rest. So, here are a few things I’ve thought of to get the ball rolling….
1. People reaching out to people…..We’re not perfect, but the fact remains that church folks really do try to help each other, even people they don’t know personally. There really is a “family-type” attitude in most churches I’ve seen. They send out the requests and people respond. Whether it’s the cancer patient who needs transportation to chemotherapy or the released felon who needs a car—church people pitch in. When my father had leukemia, I walked into a church in another state for a Saturday night service. I was an emotional wreck, and I didn’t know a soul. A woman came up to me during “meet & greet” time and asked if she could pray. By the end of that evening, I had received prayer from her and the elders. I had a cellphone number to call anytime I needed support. I had a promise from the elders to visit my nonsaved Dad in the hospital, which they fulfilled twice. Those are the hands and feet of Jesus in action. And stuff like that happens everyday in a church near you.
2. Vertical Worship….I’m going to get some argument here, probably, but I think there’s something really incredible about some of the worship music that is moving through the church at this time. There is a huge amount of music that really pulls you into a heartfelt connection with God, that sings TO God not just about God. It’s true, lots of it is simplistic and low on theology, but it does reach the heart. And I think we need that. We need to move beyond knowing about God to KNOWING GOD, and this music touches that simple childlike place within us that just wants to sing to our Abba. I’m not knocking traditional music. I’m saying that the new stuff (specifically songs in the 1st and 2nd person) meets a need that we have for greater intimacy with God. Our intellect may not find it challenging, but our heart finds it nourishing. And the love and healing we receive can become the fuel we need to go deeper in our faith.
3. Cross-Pollination….I’m not talking about being polluted by the world. We’ve got that problem, yes. But, what I mean is the increasing amount of unity that is happening as we move away from denominationalism. Although “church shopping” is often a bad thing, the movement of believers from church to church has had the effect of breaking down denominational walls and giving us a sense of the Church as more than our local congregation. For example, teachings on the Kingdom of God and the Gifts of the Spirit are no longer regulated to charismatic circles. I know Baptists who speak in tongues and believe in miracles. This is good, in my opinion. These more fundamentalist folks are bringing a much needed sanity and discernment into the supernatural aspects of our faith. At the same time, the more experiential faith of the charismatics is breathing the life of the Spirit into churches that had lost their first love. I’m not saying that all the cross-pollination is good. Certainly, we are in danger of some false doctrines, too. But, I do think there is something good happening here. I think the Holy Spirit is teaching us about His unity, about embracing the full beauty of the Bride and looking beyond our own little group.
