Transparency

As I have been in different Sunday school classes in my career as a church attender, it seems like the hardest thing to do is to get people to answer questions, discuss their life, or whatever. One thing I have found that can reverse the trend is a little transparency.

The problem, however, is that inbred Christian churches (i.e., churches grow by the majority of transfer membership, and never affect the unchurched population) do not create an atmosphere conducive to transparency---that is, people are intimidated to talk about their mistakes.

Basically, it has to begin with the leadership. The pastor has to stop pretending to be perfect. In my opinion (and I know many will disagree with this), it begins by dressing like a normal person, even on Sunday!

We often don't realize it, but by trying to look nice, act happy, and appear holy on Sunday mornings, we are promoting the idea that God is sectioned off from the normal parts of our lives---we do things different at church from the way we do things at home, therefore, I have to dress up and act nice in order for God to accept me, and when I'm in dumpy clothes and and irritated, then God wants nothing to do with me.

The solution? Teachers, leaders, and others need to start freely admitting their failures, mistakes, sins, and start modeling a continuous lifestyle of repentance for the people they teach and lead and disciple. It means apologizing when you're wrong. It means using stories and illustrations about yourself where you are the villain and not the hero.

This is yet another reason why I love working for Set Free. There is zero pretension there. Even the pastor is a recovering alcoholic. Everybody there wears the same clothes they do during the week. And our Bible studies are amazing because nobody there is afraid of looking bad because we all already look bad.

I also recently learned that Charles Wesley used to kick people out of his church that dressed up too much. I may just continue that practice in my church!

Christmas Eve

I am getting ready for the Christmas Eve service tomorrow night. I just had a couple of thoughts about the whole Christmas experience.

--Christmas is too busy!! Between 12+ hour shifts at my "part-time" job, preparing for finals at school, shopping, digging out of the snow, and trying to think about Jesus, something's got to give. I, personally, cannot plan or participate in a big Christmas Spectacular event. I think that this is why I've always preferred very intimate, small, and meaningful worship times around Christmas. Churches should really stop trying to compete with professional productions and just keep it simple. Honestly, we should really quit adding to the chaos of the season, and instead provide a remedy.

--Christmas should be liturgical. I, myself, have never been to a Christmas mass, but I really have the desire to be a part of something old and constant and true around Christmas. There is something so beautiful about the simplicity of candles and an unplugged service. I don't know what it is, but I just crave that kind of thing every year, and I can never find it. (Yeah, I'm still waiting to be put in charge of the world, I know). Also, I hear the Christmas story out of Luke and Matthew every year and I really don't get tired of it. In my opinion, it's OK to do the same songs and Scriptures (i.e., liturgy) around this time simply because there are 48 weeks until the next time we do it.

--Christmas should focus on Jesus. It sounds obvious to say this, but again, everybody wants to put their own new twist on Christmas, so it becomes about abstract things like peace, joy, and love. These are great, but I'm not a hippie. Also, I find them very domesticated concepts, since Santa preaches the same message.

May God richly bless you with His "presence" this Christmas ;) I'm gonna go buy some candles.