Life is made up of...
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Tuesday morning introspection post...
Had my tenny pimps propped up in cowboy church last night, enjoying singing out of Heavenly Highways and catching a Monday night sermon. The preacher and I go way back, our kids played T-ball together. He's just a good ol' boy, drives a puke green charger, loves a good practical joke (I once put a 400lb tombstone in his front yard, but that's another story) and normally pastors a 1000-member church. But on Monday night, Dr. Steve gets back to his raisin's, brings his guitar (Black Betty) and a clutch of sermon notes to cowboy church.
He was preaching some Millennial Kingdom stuff out of Micah last night and comparing it to similar verses in Isaiah, and it was a good sermon. Steve is known for coming up with simple, but profound concepts. Last night is no different. What he came up with...
Life is made up of "get to's" and "got to's". A "got to" is something that must be done. There may be satisfaction in doing so, but there is no joy. There is nothing to inspire or to look forward to. I've got to take out the trash. I've got to unclog the sink. Maybe I've got to go to work.
"Get to's" are the things you look forward to and enjoy. I get to go duck hunting. I get to take my wife out for dinner. I get to go to the football game.
Have y'all gotten to the point where there are too many "got to's" in life and very few "get to's"? Has responsibility overwhelmed joy? Then brothers and sisters, maybe you need to take a step back and look at your life. And maybe, brothers and sisters, you need to take a step back and look at your church life.
Too many Christians have turned Church into a "got to", rather than a "get to". When you attend church, you should be looking forward to the opportunity to worship, to sing, to fellowship and to feed your soul. If church has turned into a "got to" rather than a "get to", maybe you need to do some looking at yourself as to why. Maybe you need to get back to where you were excited to go to church. That's on you. If it's not you...
Maybe, you're in the wrong church.
Like I said, simple, but profound...
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Tuesday morning introspection post...
Had my tenny pimps propped up in cowboy church last night, enjoying singing out of Heavenly Highways and catching a Monday night sermon. The preacher and I go way back, our kids played T-ball together. He's just a good ol' boy, drives a puke green charger, loves a good practical joke (I once put a 400lb tombstone in his front yard, but that's another story) and normally pastors a 1000-member church. But on Monday night, Dr. Steve gets back to his raisin's, brings his guitar (Black Betty) and a clutch of sermon notes to cowboy church.
He was preaching some Millennial Kingdom stuff out of Micah last night and comparing it to similar verses in Isaiah, and it was a good sermon. Steve is known for coming up with simple, but profound concepts. Last night is no different. What he came up with...
Life is made up of "get to's" and "got to's". A "got to" is something that must be done. There may be satisfaction in doing so, but there is no joy. There is nothing to inspire or to look forward to. I've got to take out the trash. I've got to unclog the sink. Maybe I've got to go to work.
"Get to's" are the things you look forward to and enjoy. I get to go duck hunting. I get to take my wife out for dinner. I get to go to the football game.
Have y'all gotten to the point where there are too many "got to's" in life and very few "get to's"? Has responsibility overwhelmed joy? Then brothers and sisters, maybe you need to take a step back and look at your life. And maybe, brothers and sisters, you need to take a step back and look at your church life.
Too many Christians have turned Church into a "got to", rather than a "get to". When you attend church, you should be looking forward to the opportunity to worship, to sing, to fellowship and to feed your soul. If church has turned into a "got to" rather than a "get to", maybe you need to do some looking at yourself as to why. Maybe you need to get back to where you were excited to go to church. That's on you. If it's not you...
Maybe, you're in the wrong church.
Like I said, simple, but profound...
@Jolly said in Life is made up of...:
Too many Christians have turned Church into a "got to", rather than a "get to". When you attend church, you should be looking forward to the opportunity to worship, to sing, to fellowship and to feed your soul. If church has turned into a "got to" rather than a "get to", maybe you need to do some looking at yourself as to why. Maybe you need to get back to where you were excited to go to church. That's on you. If it's not you...
Maybe, you're in the wrong church.
Peterson's lecture series on Genesis and Exodus is hugely popular. He has consistently packed lecture halls of thousands of people—many of which are young people. Meanwhile, there are quite a lot of churches these days whose pews are never more than 2/3 full, and the parishioners aren't getting any younger. Ever think about that juxtaposition? Quite obviously there are many, many people getting out of Peterson what they feel they wouldn't get from their nearby church. Why?
Well, many churches haven't changed much. The perspective many of them still hold today is, "well, we follow Jesus, which makes us right. So, fuck it if you won't listen, we frankly don't give a shit."
There's a guy I follow on the YouTubes who used to be a minister in South Africa. He left the church for a lot of reasons, but for example, he thought they should use their church bus to evacuate people from a dangerous situation on the edge of town, and the church leaders disagreed because they didn't want anything to happen to the bus.
He's still religious, but moved on to photography as a career instead. He wanted to do a photo project about ministers in York. His pitch to them was that he believes their function in society is still important, he understands them and the challenges they face because he used to have their job, and he's concerned about the gap between the church and young people. But since his YouTube following is largely young people, he thought the project could shed light on what he thinks is still an important institution.
Their response? "Well what's your angle here, what is this for? Thanks but no thanks, we don't need your help, no we're not doing it." He's said that in these churches, he never sees anyone younger than 50 sitting in the pews.
Yes, it would be good if more people looked into religion with an open mind, and to find a church that works for them. But reaching out to younger people doesn't have to mean starting up a "Catholicism WOW!" campaign like in Dogma. Churches don't have to change what they teach to stay relevant, just how they approach what they do. I think anyone who finds church institutions blameless for being so out of touch is delusional.
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Blame goes both ways.
Many young people today want the experience to come to them, rather than being a part of the experience. They wish to hear 7/11 songs, comfortably ensconced in a darkened theater-like atmosphere and enjoy the light show.
While you're absolutely right churches and leaders must change with the times, they should only change so much.
Now, sit down, because I don't want you falling and hurting yourself...I was at mass last week. It was grandparent's day at my granddaughter's parochial school. Standing room only.
Now, I've been there before and it wasn't that full, but the church there does a pretty nice job of mixing things up so all ages feel comfortable. Middle-class church, with a priest old enough to have a little wisdom, but young enough to do a good job working his church field, which is mostly white and blue collar middle class folks. Thought his sermon the other day was pretty good, all things considered.
But...Catholics still can't sing.
