the nature of the beast...
I get angry sometimes. Not often. But, boy, there are certain topics that can get me going and tonight I walked into one of them. I suppose Gil's blog last week about the statistics of ministry has been bugging me since I read it and added to that I heard about another young minister's experience at the church he used to minister to that ended painfully and it just stirs something up in me. It's a sensitive issue for sure. Tonight I found myself accidentally in a conversation where this topic came up and I commented that the church just flat out needs to "do it better". Whether someone's awful at what they do, or they aren't the right fit, or even if it's an issue of sin, we just need to learn to do it better. We are the church, yes? If she can't model it, who in the h e double toothpicks is going to? So, as I'm expressing my concerns about this weakness and my heartbreak about knowing so many people beaten up by its poisonous effects I watch a head shake side to side and say "well, I guess that's just the nature of the beast."
Is it just me or could we spend a little less time worrying about prayer in schools, God's name on our money or whether or not intelligent design gets equal time* and more time worrying about what's happening right smack dab under our steeples? If the church behaving badly has become by some twisted means so common that it's our "nature"- so much so, that we can shrug it off without it making us want to throw up, isn't there something seriously wrong here? I mean, I know this comment wasn't made maliciously, or by someone who doesn't love the church, on the contrary, but to be so nonchalant about it all only means we have become so used to the statistics that it's to be expected as par for the course if you sign up for ministry. Am I missing something here?
That's my soap box for the night. Makes me want to cry.
Is it just me or could we spend a little less time worrying about prayer in schools, God's name on our money or whether or not intelligent design gets equal time* and more time worrying about what's happening right smack dab under our steeples? If the church behaving badly has become by some twisted means so common that it's our "nature"- so much so, that we can shrug it off without it making us want to throw up, isn't there something seriously wrong here? I mean, I know this comment wasn't made maliciously, or by someone who doesn't love the church, on the contrary, but to be so nonchalant about it all only means we have become so used to the statistics that it's to be expected as par for the course if you sign up for ministry. Am I missing something here?
That's my soap box for the night. Makes me want to cry.
"Those controlled by the sinful nature cannot please God."
-Rom. 8:8
*I happen to believe these are causes worth our time...I'm just wondering if it isn't easier to log hunt without than it is within...
posted by ret at 9:27 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home