This past Monday was Martin Luther King Day. Here in Corpus Christi there were equal rights supporters that came out to bring their message to the whole city. It’s a great message of equality for all and a dream of life without walls or borders. Many of us look forward to a day when each of us are looked at according to who we are, not what we look like. This message is strong and must be spread to everyone.
Of course, it helps to spell check before you get on your soapbox………
When I saw this picture I thought 2 things: "Why does it have to be Corpus Christi?" and "Do the things that I feel strong about come out that mixed up?" The people in the picture obviously are heartfelt about the need for equality. But now the only message that people are remembering has nothing to do with equal rights. This picture is floating from email to email across the world and the only thing you can see is a bunch of people who need help with basic spelling. From there the discussions become everything from education needs to race issues to just laughing at the picture. No one hears the message anymore.
A few years back the ministries that I involved myself in looked totally different than what we’re a part of now. The presentation was different, there was a different focus, and in many ways the "way of doing things" became more important than the actual message we were trying to get across. We used a formula for the music so that we started people off on a high point and then brought everything down to the moment that the preacher took the pulpit. The messages were usually started with a story or scripture reading, laced with funny stories, and we were told what the bible "actually says" and then expected to respond out of personal conviction. It actually came to the point where I was asked to play the same song every week for the "invitation time" because the music wasn’t getting the right response and using the same hymn that Billy Graham always used would be the best idea. (Actually it was stated as "If it’s good enough for Billy, then it’s good enough for us.") There wasn’t alot of concern about if the message was actually meaning anything to anyone. It was simply important to get the reaction. If they responded then that means it worked. If people came down the aisle then they must have something desperately wrong with their lives and we were just in the right place at the right time. Now their life has been changed forever because we followed the formula.
I see examples of this alot on TV when I watch a pastor preaching in his church (usually to a few thousand in attendance) and they start clapping at some "high point" in the message. The pastor’s voice gets slightly louder and increases as he wants to make his point. They sometimes start beating the pulpit to emphasize the words. You hear his cadence get faster and faster until there is a flurry of words spewing out of his mouth and he’s standing in front of you screaming with a voice that demands to be heard. He’s challenging us to sit still and quiet. We can’t, though, can we? He’s laid down the challenge and we have to respond. He’s saying things that must be right so we can’t sit still. That would be wrong in God’s eyes. We’re not supporting God!
Someone in the crowd starts clapping and soon you find the whole congregation up and applauding the pastor’s point. The pastor goes until he crescendos and the congregation joins with him in a flood of noise and acceptance.
Here’s my question: Are we applauding the message or applauding the pastor? Would we respond the same way if the same words were presented differently? Would we be as excited? And with that thought, is the message really that great if it can’t be presented any other way?
In our church we present things in a very different way. We communicate differently. We look for understanding from everyone, not just one "human" source. The only singular source we really rely on is God. Is our message clear? Is it good enough to stand on it’s own? I can’t be the one to answer that. I can tell you this, though. As long as I see people changing their lives to pursue Christ, as long as there are those who join in with our community even though they wouldn’t have anything to do with organized religion before, as long as there is life change going on and people wanting to be real about being a Christian then what we do has value. It is needed.
If the day were to come where NETChurch became a place only for those who believe EXACTLY the way that I do without compromise, if it becomes this self absorbed cliche that can’t see the world for the beautiful creation that it is then we need to stop. Walk away. Look for a new way.
Your message has to mean something. Otherwise it just becomes another misspelled sign that floats around the world being used as fodder for someone’s jokes.
God deserves more than that, I think.
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