I have come to believe that the
lie we spread in the American church (and, by the way, I know that there are many
churches that do not fall into this trap) is revealed in our concept of pain,
its roots and its expression. There is a
pervasive belief that if one is experiencing pain, that there is something
wrong in their life. They are deficient
in their walk of faith, either in lacking that quality or have broken somehow
with God in their life. The Biblical
story of Job is reenacted over and over in the American church.
The hurt and suffering of one of
our brothers or sisters in Christ is “ministered” to frequently by
well-meaning, but often spiritually deficient “friends.” They gather around the downtrodden, armed
with what they have heard from the pulpit and with what they know from their
secular life, and begin to care for their fellow. The process regularly ends with frustration
on the part of the “ministered to” and the “ministered by.” The former is frustrated because they are not
heard as they share the trials they are experiencing. Even if they are in the middle of some sinful
circumstance, the art of sensitively and spiritually listening to them is
almost never applied. Galatians 6:1
should be pounding in the ears of the ministers of grace to the
unfortunate. “Brethren, even if a man is
caught in any trespass, you who are spiritual, restore such a one in a spirit
of gentleness; each one looking to yourself, lest you too be tempted.” But, unfortunately, this rarely occurs.
For this to happen in our
churches, all of us must recognize our propensity for waywardness in the
fragile frame we have been given. The
realization that sin can actually happen in the church by church members or even
by the leaders of the church (including the pastors), is a facet of ministry
that the American church cannot stand.
What we do instead is to take out the biggest stick we can find and
begin to flog the decrepit “sinner” into submission, church conformity or
flight. We cannot adhere to the
principle that we have frailty of any kind in our churches, no matter if the
core of all of our churches reeks of pain and suffering and loss, and
hopelessness and embarrassment and disenfranchisement.
Christmas 2008 was a significant
time in the life of my church. I have
had the privilege of ministering with a wonderful group of Christian people
there for the last 10 years. I also believe
my church is a normal American church with many of the challenges American
churches have. We tend to want to look
good for our church experience and often do not reveal our underlying life
trials. During this Christmas, we used
the theme of “The Christmas We Always Longed For.”
I was commissioned to present the
first sermon in this series. My topic was the virgin birth. My direction for the sermon was the surprises
that God brings into our lives, like the virgin birth, and how they are the
very foundation for wonderful life change.
In the context of the message, I invited the church family to fill out a
prayer slip and present it during a time of invitation at the end of the service. I encouraged the church to write down on the
slips things they would really like to see happen during the Christmas season
and asked for a real list of longed for surprises for this most magical
time. I didn’t ask them to make their
list for Santa or to give me a list of things they wished someone would buy
them. I asked them, if they could have
anything from the Lord that Christmas, to write those things down. I asked them to be honest, straightforward
and clear in their requests. As a
church, we were going to pray 24 hours a day for the 7 days of Christmas week
for the longed for surprises on those lists.
Many came forward to place their requests in boxes at the front of the
church. It was an inspiring sight.
On the following Monday the staff and
I reviewed the requests on those slips.
What we encountered was revealing.
Our church family that on the outside looked so secure, so settled, so
sure, so together, revealed the great set of needs at every level of life. We saw families that longed for their family
members to be united in love during the Christmas time without the arguments
and disappointment that make these special times so onerous. There were petitions for the breaking down of
walls of separation, anger and disassociation.
Others revealed a longing for victory over addictions to drugs, alcohol,
pornography and other inhibiting behaviors.
Others asked for sensitivity to God so that the individual could face in
power the challenges in which each of them were living. Some asked for their spouses to return to a
place of love and affection. Others
asked for love to reign in their homes where love had somehow been misplaced
over time. Many asked for sons and
daughters to come to know the truth about God, return to the truth about God or
continue to make a stand for the Lord to whom they had committed. It was an honest list of really longed for
desires in the life of my church.
I am sure that my church is not
alone in this. The American church has
succumbed to a fallacy that states we must never be vulnerable and reveal our
personal, private, and regularly hidden pain.
Part of this is our pride. Again
this is a parameter of waywardness from God over any other consideration. We may fool those around us, but God already
knows. We may cheerfully drag our bodies
to church, high five each other as we pass in the halls, but cower in our
hearts that someone might somehow see inside our suffering, pain and hurt.
The other facet of that pride is
the fear that someone may see us for who we really are. It is a fear that we won’t measure up somehow
to the standard of the church (a standard that may or may not be Biblical). It is a fear that somehow we might fall short
of what is required in the day to day living out of our faith. It is the fear that in recognizing our
failures of faith that we have somehow not passed the test of heaven. We are commended to be perfect as our Lord is
perfect and we fear the truth that in our daily walk we fail regularly, thus
failing the test of perfection (I am quite aware that the admonition to be
perfect can be understood to mean “lacking in nothing” that God has provided).
In the corporate setting of the
American church this whole scenario is debilitating. Without the opportunity and willingness to
express our weaknesses and strengths, we miss the power that is in the
church. This power is not in our
buildings with all their incredible features.
It is not in our programs with their entire well thought out and
multi-faceted approaches. It is not
found in our ability to communicate the messages of our churches across many
different platforms through our use of audio, visual, internet or portable
computer driven receptors.
No, the power of the church, even
the American church, is the power that has always belonged to the church. The power of the church is its redeemed
population submitted to the Holy Spirit’s leading in openness, given to each
other without fear, or shame, or remorse, or hesitance. The first church that there ever was knew
this power. Acts 2:43-47 proffers this
truth in the unity and openness of the Jerusalem church. It says, “And everyone kept feeling a sense
of awe; and many wonders and signs were taking place through the apostles. And
all those who had believed were together, and had all things in common; and
they began selling their property and possessions, and were sharing them with
all, as anyone might have need. And day by day continuing with one mind in the
temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they were taking their meals
together with gladness and sincerity of heart, praising God, and having favor
with all the people. And the Lord was adding to their number day by day those
who were being saved.”
I am not offering a new communism
for the church; rather I am reminded that the people of the church, with all of
their weaknesses and strengths, are the real asset of the church. Fractured, fragile and fallible people are
the real agents of God’s hand upon the earth.
The person sitting next to us on the pew is the one that God wants to
use for His purposes as much as He wants to use each of us, no matter how good
or bad we may look to an outside perusal.
But in our spectator expression of Christianity here in the United
States, we will continue to struggle with our place in God’s work if we don’t
get this straight.
From "Righter's Block" by John T. Prim
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