wallflower conversations
Monday, 25 May 2009
Recently I was able to listen to an interesting conversation between my parents & friends of theirs. The conversation centered on catching up with the current news of their respective churches.
You see this was all very normal seeing how they met each other years ago at a local church, my parents having attended there for quite some time until recently when they left the church. Their friends moved out of state a few years ago, and were back in town visiting.
It was very interesting listening to a conversation of ‘lay’ people centered on churches. I am very used to hearing conversations about church coming from those of leadership, those of influence and thought—not the regular Joe attendee.
The first thing that jumped out to me, was the view of church possibilities which lay in front of them. As they were describing churches, they basically swung between two spheres, that of Baptist (not simply the structure of the denomination but mostly spoken of as the set of practices and beliefs, a certain conservatism) and Charismatic (which for them is focused on the loose style of worship, especially the use of speaking in tongues as being central).
My parent’s friends, the Smith’s, have found a church they have attended for the past two years. They describe it as being a blending of these two different styles. It is a Baptist church which is ‘stepping out’ into Charismatic worship style. Cynically I would read this as saying, I want my traditional church with all the values it holds, but I want to transform our outer form into something else (without really changing).
Surprisingly they described how they weren’t connected to any community—individual or group, but they continued to attend services. My initial question would be: why? Maybe this is simply me, but I don’t see a point in attending services if there isn’t any connection to others.
The question that has been buzzing around my head since this conversation was wondering about the possibilities which I see for churches that I would attend. I mean these people don’t live in a cave, they know of the wide diversity of denominations out there, but on a deeper level there really aren’t all those choices. Since adulthood I have attended a lot of different churches types, currently I am attending a Methodist church which is somewhat ironic because I don’t think I would put that on my list of possibilities though it happened despite that.
I am convinced that these limitations that we place upon possible churches for us is completely wrong headed. Our choice of church home, is not our choice at all but that of the Holy Spirit. We need to be involved in the place that God wants for us, not the place we decide best suits our interests or personality or even our tradition or beliefs. Think of how transformational it could be for Baptists & Catholics to intermix for a time period—not to create a hybrid of worship but as a chance to experience the worship of the Other.
No. 1 — May 29th, 2009 at 2:09 pm
I totally agree that it is not our choice at all for a church home but that of the Holy Spirit’s and that we do need to be involved in the place that God wants for us. Which is why we are seeking God’s leadership in finding the church that He wants us to be plugged in to. We totally agree with you in that we should be an integral part of the community of the church body of where you are to be “planted” by God. Because of this connection in the previous church we were at, we have made life-long friends that are now scattered across the USA. We meet regularly with our friends that are still in the NWA area but attend other churches. We are also looking forward to the new direction that God is leading us in this time period of our lives. We cannot sit on the back pew and just be observers. We have to be involved wherever God leads us.
No. 2 — May 29th, 2009 at 2:55 pm
What is most interesting in this is what the perceived possibility that we have of what God can do in one’s life. What would dismiss without out of hand without prayer and reflection as to God’s plan for you…Is Catholicism or 7 day Adventists or Methodists or Baptists or Pentecostals out of the question of a church home. We become comfortable in who we are (as if that even true), and then use that implicitly or explicitly to exclude possibilities as ‘not for us’.
No. 3 — June 1st, 2009 at 7:17 am
Which is why listening to that “Still Small Voice” i.e. Holy Spirit is so important in all aspects of your life-not just in seeking out a new church. How many times do we run off to the store or to just do something and we don’t even think about asking for God’s leadership in where the best deals are or if it’s something that we’re supposed to be doing at the moment or not. There are at least 2 instances in our church life that I can think of right off the bat that God lead us to somewhere that would definitely not have been our first choice. At one particular church I pretty much cried every Sunday because I didn’t like it and didn’t really want to be there but knew that was where we were supposed to be at the time. And I admit that I probably did not get fully out of the services what I should have or did not give fully what I should have because of my attitude. It all goes back to following that “Still Small Voice”. If we could ever get it into our heads that following the Holy Spirit’s leadership is a “way of life” not just an “every now and then” occurence, that’s when we are living our life in God’s Will and thereby being “successful”. So many people measure success on what you have or where you are in life but being/doing God’s Will is being successful. Anyway back to the point of possibilities for churches–we are open to God’s Direction to the church that He wants us to be planted in-I think I’ve read a book on that!
No. 4 — June 1st, 2009 at 11:21 am
The last line of mom’s last post refers to a book I wrote on being “planted”… mostly concerning church, but also including job, house that you live in, and just being a “planted” stable person.
We have done some physisophical thinking, following the Holy Spirit, and just experienceing life over the last 53-54 years. We really are not as dum as we look. ( Ok Sandra, I’m just speaking for myself!!!)