Why Church ~ Whistles and Bells

Greetings Dear Reader, 

In the fifth Star Trek movie, Star Trek V: The Final Frontier the ship is taken over by an idealist with a poor understanding of reality.  He thinks he is taking the ship to find God.  When the entity they find asks them to bring the ship closer so that he may join with it, Captain Kirk asks a very simple question.  He inquirers, “What does God need with a Starship?” 

The obvious take is that he does not.  In the midst of this fiction, I find a salient truth.  We seem to think that the things of God require our staging, drama, and design to be effective.  We add whistles and bells to the Gospel that I feel in most parts distract from it.  Whether it is mood lighting, fancy edifices, or some of the more ridiculous things I have seen, we think that this is what people need to be drawn into the church.  

One of my mentors taught me that people go where they get their needs met.  People show up where they find love, compassion, and connection.  The whistles and bells are not inherently wrong but they are also not needed.  Very often, the lights and sirens are a distraction from what is required of us.  

When we gather, we are supposed to be loving the Father, learning how to better follow the Son, and caring for each other’s needs.  Our love should flow so fully that nothing else is needed.  Our interactions need to be more about expressing the Father’s love through kindness, generosity, and reconciliation than about the show we put on to entertain ourselves. 

I realize that I have pointed out many things that are wrong.  Tomorrow, I will begin to discuss the reasons why I think that the flawed and broken church we have is vital to our communities.  You see, Dear Reader, the problems of the church only exist because we allow it.  Every flaw we see is something we have accepted or embraced.  We are comfortable with holy salesmen selling us the things we want to hear.  

There is a design for the church and I wish to ponder how we can make it useful in a world that increasingly needs to understand why.  It is my responsibility and yours, Dear Reader.  We are the church and accountable for all it does.  This collective is the mechanism the Father has chosen for our journey home.  We must know why and use that knowledge to pursue the journey with eager feet. 

 Playing Marbles with Diamonds – Steve Camp 

Waking up to a very different world
We got mud on our flag before it’s even been unfurled
Our heroes have fallen and a leader is hard to find
The clock is running out and we’re casting our pearls before swine

There’s a whole lot more than preaching to the choir
Kneeling at the altar and paying our tithe
We’ve been treating God like he’s happiness for hire
We’ve been playing marbles with diamonds

Isn’t it a shame how his name gets thrown around
We pat God on the back like a buddy from out of town
We thank “the man upstairs” for the things people praise us for
We give God the glory but we’re happy to take the award 

There’s a whole lot more than raising lots of money
Building our churches and spreading our faith
If faith is just the dice you roll to get lucky
We’ve been playing marbles with diamonds 

There are precious things of God
And we must guard them with our lives
Like an unborn baby’s dreams
Like a husband love his wife 

May the hope of his returning
May it glorify our faith
As we hold onto his holy word
May the chaff be blown away 

Can we ever live up to the things we say we believe
Because the world is watching looking for some honesty
Are we riding down a freeway instead of on a narrow road
We turned a passion for the lost into the business of saving souls

There’s a whole lot more than preaching to the choir
Kneeling at the altar and paying our tithe
We’ve been treating God like he’s happiness for hire
We’ve been playing marbles with diamonds 

There’s a whole lot more than raising lots of money
Building our churches and spread
If faith is just the dice you roll to get lucky
We’ve been playing marbles with diamonds. 

Wishing you joy in the journey, 

Aramis Thorn
Mat 13:52 So Jesus said to them, "That is why every writer who has become a disciple of Christ’s rule of the universe is like a homeowner. He liberally hands out new and old things from his great treasure store.”
(͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) 

Every human story is part of the great story that leads to the Father getting everything back to Good. 

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What does God need with a fog machine?