Many of you are like me. Many of you (not all- mind you)have come from a fairly conservative, fundamentalist, traditional church background- my particular tribe being the churches of Christ. Now, occasionally I can come down pretty hard on my church background. I brush my hand over the leaks and cracks in the hull of this old boat. I mutter to myself (and sometimes to a room full of people), "This ship is sinking- we'd better bail while we can. . . ." I can pick it apart and make jokes about our scars and attitudes over the years. And in doing so, sometimes I get some kickback for being TOO hard on my tradition. They are probably right. In my life, my harshest critics can be not only myself, but my family. They know when I've overstepped my bounds and have reel me back in. But they also know where my deepest faults are. They can also (not just "my wife") tell me to tuck my shirt in or to fix my hair or let me know that something I'm wearing doesn't quite match. And as much as that can annoy me, I let them. Why? Why should I not simply defend myself? Because I know that my family truly does want the best for me. They, to borrow a Max Lucado phrase, love me right where I am, but refuse to leave me this way. They want to see me improve and grow and become more mature and develop better grooming techniques, etc., etc. Part two of all this is that I will confess I don't have much patience for those who feel called to "protect" the church from criticism. Those who lash out at the smallest amount of cynicism in my tone or choice of phrasing. My thoughts on that: If the church truly has Son of God as the cornerstone, then the church can handle it. It won't crumble- it won't budge. It will still stand- cracks and all. Besides, could it be that someone, upon hearing certain critiques, may decide to fill in the cracks that they hadn't noticed before? Maybe this is why I'm so hard on the churches of Christ. I never want the church to feel like it has arrived. We should constantly improve and grow and become more mature. And I feel like maybe I can be too harsh at times, but I hope people know my heart. I hope they know that I DO want the church to fully live into its calling as the Kingdom of God. Now, upon reading this back over, I know there are holes and other sides to consider. This isn't an open/closed kind of argument. These are simply just some thoughts I've been having. Questions, comments and smart remarks are welcome. -chris
Thursday, September 13, 2007
Getting used to the family of God
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
I think that those who get defensive about criticism are just scared; When we see the faults in our churches, those of us who care enough try to change it. For some, change can be a scary thing.
Good thing God is bigger than the boogeyman! :)
hey chris!
you and i have talked about this before... we're kinda on the same page when it comes to getting frustrated with things in the church and the difficulty enacting change entails... i guess my thought is (and i've learned the hard way).. is we have to be careful that we don't develop an attitude that our thinking is correct and these people need to catch up.. yknow? i've learned that i need to give as much or more grace than i've received, that's for sure.. (and i've gotten a BUNCH!)
At my job, we have a saying... you can do anything you want with a customer - as long as you tell them what you're going to do... i think it applies here... people can accept change if they don't feel it's been thrown at them or forced on them... communicate what's coming, why it's coming, and they'll likely be more accepting.. (that's another hard lesson i learned early in my worship team leading.. )
i also identify with your comment "i hope people know my heart".. i've said the exact same thing, when our church was in turmoil about the praise team.. i was asked to start the team, worked with the church for a year, developing the team.. and finally decided it was time to move the team onto the stage (they had been singing from the front row).. well, you wouldn't believe the uproar... we were "shoving things down their throats"... and all i could think or say was.. you should know my heart by now - you've known me for some 13 years!
MY MISTAKE? we had over a year of studies with the worship team, on worship, on what a worship team is to be about, on modeling worship for the congregation, .. but i never taught any of it to the congregation.. never communicated to them what was coming.. so all they knew was they came in church this sunday and everything was different..
anyway... sorry for rambling, but you brought up stuff i can definitely identify with..
love ya bro and see ya in november!
mark
(vhf)
Post a Comment