Our Resurrection Sunday sermon was mostly composed of a series of video clips and a story about Arnold Palmer having once suffered a twelve stroke count on a tournament par-five hole; but, then, Pastor Terry seldom gets into deep theological parsing of Scripture. His understanding of chapter and verse boils down, for the most part, to three main items: (1) People need God; (2) God loves people; and (3) People need each other. I have no problem with that, having had my fill of loud, charismatic preachers trying to sell the Holy Ghost for a donation to their ministry. Religion, in my book, anyhow, is “worship without the Almighty’s seal of approval”. Whether a message from the pulpit or a song from the choir, I believe it is God’s signature that completes it. Abel’s sacrifice was received; Cain’s was not. I find it no different today. If the fire doesn’t fall, it might behoove us to re-examine our offering; and, at the same time, take note that arson is still a criminal offense........
In John’s Gospel, the blind man is asked by the Pharisees: “Where is He?” To me, that is a valid question worthy to be put to any Christian yet today. Are we, as a church, we merely promoting a program? A doctrine? Our own ego? Can it be said of us that we, in truth, bear witness to that miracle we claim to have taken place within us? Not some “uniformed” adherence to that which our denomination demands; but solid evidence of a risen Savior. If Jesus, Himself, is indeed the Way, the Truth, and the Life, in substituting our own understanding for those first two elements, do we not, in such manner, end up either counterfeiting the third or dismissing it altogether? I’m of the opinion that within every service, within every born-again believer, there runs a river; and if we, as a body, do no more than meet and leave without the reality of His presence having been somehow manifested among us, we gain little more than fulfilling our weekly obligation to the clan. Manufacturing our own encounter accomplishes even less.......
Moses once stood in the cleft of a rock atop Sinai and was shown God’s glory. The rest of Israel had just been found guilty of being content to camp at the base of the mountain, bowing down to idols of their own making. Even so today. When salvation is reduced to mere definitions capable of being stretched and bent, adjusted to shape our own image of Him, are we any less guilty of idolatry? When the only breath our gatherings possess is that which we, ourselves, pump into it, we may go home smug in our perception of what it’s all about, but it leave us with our existence, both present and eternal, determined by our own thinking. I want more; and while I recognize that there’s a lot of nonsense out there, a lot of hoopla labeled “the real deal”, if the foundations of our faith rest in anything, it is in the promise of a tangible relationship made available unto us, through Christ, with our Maker. I want that. In my sanctuary as well as in a prayer closet. Have we, as a people, lost the “cloud” along the way?.........
Wednesday, April 11, 2007
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I'm not into manipulation Jim. But what has happened to expectation, and anticipation...faith? What has happened to hunger and desparation?
God does inhabit the praises of his people. How much do we prepare ourselves as communities, preparing a place for " Him ", an altar of sacrifice. Do we make a throne for Him in our communities, where we can linger in His presence? What would happen if we just shut up...and listened.Maybe if we lay down our egos, our agendas...the cloud will return.
Ron: I'm certainly not trying to claim every time we walked through the door of the sanctuary in "the old days", the glory of the Lord filled the place. It did, though. happen often enough that people came in expectant and with the knowledge that it could occur. I often wonder if "manipulation" isn't what eventually brought us to our present situation?.......
Jim, I think your absolutely right.Is not Easter by nature an overturning of every human presumption of power to create something incredible?
If we have learnt anything, it should be, " when there is less of us...there is a whole lot more of Him." Peace buddy, have a good weekend, Ron+
Arnold Palmer and the 12-stroke count? What's that about? I'm kinda curious about it.
At this point, my church-going is basically down to Christmas, Good Friday and Easter. Those seem to be the only times that I can make myself go for the last couple of years. And, for now, I'm okay with that. My husband continues to go regularly.
Actually, Ron's comment "What would happen if we just shut up...and listened." resonates with me. I find myself drawn to the idea of what church was like for me as a kid in a Catholic mass. There was a lot of room for quiet contemplation/prayer. On this past Good Friday, I had to fashion some earplugs out of kleenex just to make it through to the end without a serious migraine. (Somebody has to have a serious talk with the sound man.) To be fair, they did have some quiet spaces and those were wonderful.
Despite all my grumblings, what I'm coming to realize is that I still have a long way to go to get beyond myself. I still get hung up on the little things that annoy me regarding the way "church is done". Those things shouldn't really matter because God is with us. Always.
Mich
Mich: The Arnold Palmer story is true. He was leading a tournament, tried to reach the green in two, but hacked a slice, a hook, again and again, and eneded up losing because of the twelve count. There is a plaque at that point in the course yet today commemorating the event. The pastor's point was simply that we all fail from time to time nothing at all wrong with his sermon; and I wondered if people might mis-read my mentioning it.....
I sort of thought that that was the point of the Arnold Palmer story but didn't want to jump to conclusions. Wow, that must have been a frustrating and perhaps even embarassing moment for him. Hopefully, he was able to laugh about it at some point.
Not sure if others would mis-interpret. To clarify, did you mention it to point out how, in church, we often get illustrations with easy to understand little morals attached that we can take home and store away until needed? I think we have a tendency to do that with the parables as well; just whittling it down to a quick moral.
I was telling you about my recent church attendance. On Good Friday, I was rather annoyed at the noisy busy-ness of it all. It basically felt like people who were trying too hard. Your phrase "manufacturing our own encounter" fits well with the impression I had; there was a sense of putting on a show. I didn't get much from it at all. Until I spotted a scruffy older man who's been coming to the church basically for the bagels and coffee.
Apparently, years ago, he was once a dentist who was a "functioning member of society". Suddenly one day, his daughter died and he broke. He became an incoherent street person who eventually found his way to our church. I often watched for him. He would stay at the back and dance to the music.
On Friday, as he was leaving with the rest of the congregation, he looked different. His hair was less scruffy and he was wearing glasses. My husband told me that he talks now. I cried on the way home, both from joy and sadness.
I guess the point for me is that God shows up whether I like what's going on or not. And, though I didn't notice anything big or fiery going on, I was moved and changed in a very subtle way.
Mich
I love your story of the dentist, Mich. It comes to me that God is not so much in the details as He is in the dust. By that I mean only that, in spite of all our pompous structure, He seems to find flow in the obscure corners of the whole affair. And you are right: if we are not careful, it's as easy to miss Him in our "grump" as the others tend to do in their "trump". I go because I believe in Pastor Terry's message. I write because I know there are greater depths we have, as a people, left behind us somewhere...
Amen to that, Jim.
Mich
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