Previous Post Justice Friday
I am trying to be careful how I post this as there is the possibility of explosion, me exploding on this post that is. So yesterday I went to church, as I usually do on Sunday. I am finding more and more that there is a cultural separation between the world that I live in each and every day and the church services that I attend each Sunday. Different music, different dress, different attitude, etc. Church services are just a culture in their own and has been that way for me for as long as I can remember.
Now I know that this conversation has been going on for a while now, but I am freshly frustrated so I will continue it on here. I want to be careful not to turn this into a bitch session, I just want to share my thoughts and even hurts. The church service I attended yesterday has a dress code, not for the attendees, but for the people involved in the service, ushers, worship leaders, pastors. Now it is totally their prerogative and right to have this dress code (shirt, tie, slacks and jacket), but what I feel it does is separate the congregation from everyone else. I am sure that is what they are trying to do though, it is not a coincidence.
There was a row of youth in front of me during the service. They were dressed in jeans and short sleeve snap button up shirts and had piercings and funky hair. I was surprised to see them in the church. I was surprised because what was going on in that building was totally counter cultural to their lives, outside of loving Jesus that is. They would never hang out in a club that played contemporary pop songs, they wouldn’t go to a party where everyone wore suits and they wouldn’t normally, outside of school sit in an auditorium with 600 people watching people lead them in song and preach to them. Why were they there then? I couldn’t figure it out.
I leaned over and asked my good friend who has attended there his whole life and he told me it’s bacause this is all they know. They started going there with their parents when they were born and they continue to go cause it is what they know as church. Just writing this brings me to tears. They are missing out, they are missing out on the body of Christ and are just hanging out at the arm when there are eyes, ears, legs and feet out there for them to experience as well. The problem isn’t that they are stuck there, the problem is that they are afraid to leave and they don’t know that they can. Even if they did leave they would not know where to go. I am not blaming the church service on this, I am just saying I wish somehow, someone would show them that this is not the only way to do church, but that there are many, many expressions of Jesus and his body out there that they can be a part of.
At the end of the service we had communion, which is remembering Jesus body broken on the cross and blood shed for our sins. We do this by eating bread and drinking wine/juice that represents Jesus body and blood. The thing that I noticed is that we got through the whole celebration without mentioning the name of Jesus. He was referred to as the great intercessor, the Christ child and even Him, but not Jesus, not even in prayer. I wondered at how we can remember Jesus sacrifice for us, this sacrifice that allows us to be able to come to him directly and receive his grace and forgiveness without the mention of His name, Jesus. His name was finally mentioned during the closing prayer, in Jesus name Amen.
I am not sure who I am frustrated with, I think it is the whole system. Jesus offers us so much, but so many of us never see what He is offering, we just see a slice, this is unfair and wrong. I would love your feedback on this as I have been a bit scared to post it as I am an empathetic developer in my strengths, not a button pushing agitator. Thanks for your time and your thoughts.
In Jesus name amen.
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