Britain's 9/11? | Where are they now?
Do you remember the religious fervor in America after 9/11? Do you remember how packed our sanctuaries were those first Sundays after that horrific day? Christianity Today has an article today asking the question of whether or not this will be England's equivalent to our own 9/11.
I thought I would seize the opportunity this article provided me to ask a question: Where are all those now who filled our sanctuaries following September 11, 2001? It was the search for hope and answers, mingled with fear, that drove people to our churches. But why did they leave? Did they not find what they were looking for? Did they walk out of our church doors those first Sunday mornings with the same sense of desperation and uncertainty with which they came in?
Maybe this is a tragic commentary on the insufficiency of our American churches to meet the needs of hurting people. Perhaps we placed too much of our concern in issues of polity, arguments over worship styles, or sacramental differences. Perhaps we, as we busied ourselves to meet our own needs on those Sunday mornings, allowed the lost and dying to slip in and out of our church doors undetected and unredeemed. When will the church allow the Holy Spirit to impart to her the very mind of Christ? This same mind was not only always oriented around the mind of His Father's, but was always transfixed upon the hurts and needs of real people. This same Jesus, in His moment of deep despair over the loss of His beloved cousin, did not even stop ministering to people so that he could properly grieve. This same Jesus, motivated by His love for God and man, allowed Himself to be betrayed to His own death. The humility and sacrifice and fundamental orientation around God and man of Jesus Christ should be what characterizes His people.
Have we missed this somehow?
Or maybe I'm wrong. What do you think?
4 Comments:
Want to come and preach in my church this Sunday, Sean? When I saw the picture and began to read just the first sentence or two, I had a knee jerk reaction of frustrated exhaustion--I thought you were about to go off on the seekers who visited our churches after 9/11 (which I'm sure they could use a critique as well). But instead you called us to the life of Christ and true holiness in a very eloquent fashion.
I'm serious, my church needs this message as much as any. Good people, busy living their good lives, with both eyes closed to the lost around them. And here I sit most days working on bible studies, S.S. lessons, sermons, and chaplin visits to hospitals and church member's homes (when I'm not blogging, of course), maybe I need to get out "there" more too. Most of what I do as a pastor is for the Church.
Thinking in Ohio, and all who read this,
I do not want to give the impression that the church is solely to blame for these things. True, we fall short of our full potential, but this does not negate the responsibility people have to freely respond to God's quickening grace. I do not criticise the church in order to have a pulpit. I desire true transformation in the lives of men and women, and the agent of that transformation is the Holy Spirit with God's people as the holy vessel through whom He does His life-changing work. My challenge is to all God's people -- mainly myself.
God bless.
I don't want you to mistake where I'm coming from either. I expect more from Christians than I do sinners, and rightly so, they lack the abundance of God's grace that we possess.
Consequently, I'm often more disillusioned and disappointed in the church than I am the world. If we only lived our doctrine we would draw the world to Christ--too often we repell the world. I do not critize the church in order to have a pulpit either. I'm sure I sometimes sound hard on her, but I love her--I'm giving my life to her growth and development even though I've been wounded and tempted to run. I've often considered other careers, but it is my love for her and for Christ compell me to stay. As a member of the Body and the Bride, as an elder of the Church, I will never stop calling her back to true holy purity and Christ-like love.
I may sound cynical... or maybe I've just have been in the ministry long enough to see the ugly side of the church-- but, let me say that I've also seen her in her beauty... and when she is rightly adorned with holiness and love every eye in the room is captivated by her splendor--saint and sinner alike.
I love the Church so much that I am determined to call her to chaste love for Christ and the world he died to redeem. Your post was good Sean and I believe it does this well... Why did they leave our churches? Why didn't they stay? Hard hearts? Unrepentant sinners? Conviction from the Spirit? Wrong priorities? Unmet neeeds? Judgmental Christians? Poor community? Self-absorbed attendees? I don't know the answer to that question, all I know is that we had a opportunity and we missed it... and every church needs to be reminded of this because they all too quickly forget the reason they were commissioned by Christ, to "make disciples".
Thinking in Ohio,
Good form. Well Said.
Amen,
-Matt
PS- I have been in Panama City, Florida for the last ten days, so I have a lot of catching up to do... I really missed the dialogue.
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