So about three years ago... maybe more, I wrote this brief blog but never posted it on my previous place of blogdom. I found it tonight and laughed how much of it is still the same. I guess things haven't really changed that much. Anyway, it was originally called "What the Hell." The church sign referenced is from a large church on the east side of Cincinnati that still to this day posts messages that support the war in Iraq. Well, at least you gotta give them points for sticking to their guns!
I looked at him shocked and asked, “what the hell is wrong with them?” He didn’t know! It wasn’t that he was a moron, but the question simply could not be answered. The church sign was big and lit up; commanding that real Christians supported the war effort! Mark looked at me with an understanding smirk. I kept on, “I know we love the same God as they do, but don’t they see what they are doing?” “Don’t they realize how fake it all is? Don’t they want more?” Again, he didn’t know…
You see we had been having this conversation for years, not specifically with each other; but with every bleeding heart and open ear we could find. In reality I have only known Mark for a year and a half, but we bonded on the issue at hand. That is really how we gained a lot of the friends we have now… the religiously flawed, church dropout types. For some reason, these were our people and they saw it too. They knew that something was wrong with the church; it was terribly ill or something. Not from lack of people trying, no quite the opposite really. There was just something wrong that could not be helped by another religious conference or festival, or some dramatic “experience.” I had seriously grown to hate that word, “experience” it made me not want to feel anything!
No one was saying that our group was better than anyone else’s. We wore most of our flaws very openly. But we all saw the “pop-culture” church and could not help but wonder… The endless Christian magazines that advertised dozens of “events.” The thousands of youth ministers trying to stay “relevant & current.” Even the word “postmodern” makes me want to puke. A friend of mine once responded to that word, “is nothing sacred?” Well, is it? Where is the teaching, where is the ministry to others, and what about truth? So many Christians bounce from experience to experience on these natural highs, until what…? I think that would be pretty hard to keep up, and besides why would you want to? People getting rich off new Christian trends… what is this all about? Jesus spoke more about how hard it is for the rich to get into Heaven than homosexuals… No wonder the world hates us so much; we act like a bunch of drugged-up fiends, dying for another buzz from youth group! But every year, the gap seems to widen a little more, and those in the middle feel stretched-out.
This is by no means a new shift in thinking for the church. Christians young and old have been feeling this way for a while. It cannot be the “new trend” either, because that kind of mediocrity will never last. With all of this it is quite possible that I (and everyone with me) are just jaded twenty-somethings. True, maybe it is just leftover rebellion from a time that we were a little more punk-rock; I second guess it all the time. Maybe it is just rambling, but I do meet more and more people who honestly feel the same way. This is something that crosses all boundaries and denominational ties, and it gains more speed every day. But something much deeper than my brain tells me there has got to be more out there than repetitive praise choruses and books about the Apocalypse.
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2 comments:
Excellent post, my friend. And actually, it feels as if I have read this before. Could you have showed it to me in the past? Either way, I enjoyed your thoughts and share them with you. The only difference is I'm trapped in the cycle of meaninglessness while you have escaped :)
Yes, I believe you were one of a few friends I sent this to when I originally wrote it. Although, I would have to say you are one of very few people I would say is not wrapped up in meaningless. Just because my battle with the church has gone somewhat underground does not mean I have left. Keep the faith brother... Cheers!
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