I understand this isn’t your “Rah, rah, rah, blog today, but if I’m going to blog every day for a year, I’ve got to be real. If you’re depressed today, you should probably watch this instead of reading my blog.
I was talking to a clergy friend of mine the other day and he was telling me of a family in his church that was in church Sunday for the first time in a long time. He was telling them how much he had missed them, they told him they knew they should be in church…yada, yada, blah, blah…you know how the conversation goes.
I watch lots of sermons online. Pastors from small churches to the largest churches in the United States are always throwing things out there trying to get the people to come back to church the next week. As I was watching an online sermon from the pastor of one of the bigger churches last week, I heard him say, “Be sure to come back next week, we’re going to talk about sex.” It’s like watching afternoon TV and a promo for the news will say, “A product in your refrigerator that may kill your baby–details on tonight’s news.”
I am constantly struck by the difference in Christianity today verses in John Wesley’s day (not to even mention what it was like in the apostles’ time). Wesley would have groups that would meet, granted outside of normal church worship, and you would have to receive a ticket to be admitted. If you hadn’t been a faithful disciple that week, you wouldn’t get a ticket and wouldn’t be ALLOWED to go. And the ticket to Wesley’s meeting would be gained for being in church AND how you lived through the week.
Today, we’re begging most people just to come to church, forget trying to get them to BE the church during the week. There just seem to be so few people that really get it. I’m not sure if this says more about the people or about church or if it’s a combination of both. If I dwell on it, it’s definitely a bummer. “One is distressed by the failure of a reasonable people to perceive either the depths of evil or the depths of the holy.” ~ Dietrich Bonhoeffer.
I’m going to be hopeful that maybe this blog will shake one person up. If today’s blog is speaking to you (or ABOUT you), watch THIS Stellar Kart video to Activate:
Scott Knowlton's Blog 