Good and Evil, Wicked and the Righteous these are the paradigms
of life. From the first fall of Adam and
Eve to the Harry Potter series and now the Hunger Games, we live in a world
obsessed with the good and the bad – the light and the dark. Even in our Presidential elections, we see
this paradigm played out as each candidate tries to prove that they are the
good option and their opponent is the bad option. As our cultural and society continues to push
the one frame mindset that there is always one right and one wrong answer to
everything, it is no wonder that it slowly has become either you are religious
OR you are not – either you go to church and believe in one set of beliefs OR
you don’t.
But that doesn’t paint a clear picture of life does it? Life isn’t black and white. We can be celebrating a joyful occasion and
have a flash memory of the person we long to be there. We can be at a funeral and in joy remember
that person’s life with a smile on our face.
We can be having the best day of our lives, only to have crushing news
come our way. We can have two choices to
make and neither of them make us happy but we know we must choose one. Life is not always as cut and dry as we like
to hope.
It is also possible for you to go to Church every Sunday and
yet still question if God exists. It is
also possible for you to sit home drinking coffee every Sunday or labor for
money and still know that God exists. It
is possible for you to be a Christian and yet continue to sin and make choices
that hurt people just like it is possible for non-Christians to live intentional
lives.
The problem with the crisis in our churches – and I do
believe that our decline is a crisis – is that it stems from this cut and dry
thinking – there must only be ONE right answer to getting more number in our
pews. The thought that the decline is in
direct correlation with the amount of sin in the world always baffles me
because the world is not the only sinful place – the church and we Christians
have allowed the wicked in our doors and our hearts. The crisis in our churches right now is a
crisis between love and hate – judgment and spitefulness vs. grace and
forgiveness.
I would image, especially reading Paul's letters, that these struggles have been long-term in our churches. We are sinners and human - we are not perfect. But in today's world, society has changed. Religion is no longer a "norm" and we as Church people, must begin to change the way we "do" faith. Faith is not personal nor it can not remain personal if we want to spread the message.
Jesus commanded his followers to go out and make disciples. Not just to go out and live the Christian life, but to go out and spread the faith. In 1 John 5 we hear about the importance of testimony. Personal testimony is an important part of our faith. Personal testimony is sharing our own faith, our own story with the world - beginning with those closest to you. The more you share, the more comfortable you feel sharing.
What so many "unchurched" people don't realize is the amazing and true Spiritual faith that can be felt within the walls of church. What so many who have left church don't realize is that there are churches were faith can be challenged and differences can be met with grace. What so many fail to see is just how diverse the christian faith is and how many different churches and church experiences are out there. So let us begin to share our experience!
