Which Sermon Was It?
Charlie asked me which sermon the one I preached last weekend at my previous church turned out to be.. Hard hitting, powerful, or dull? Judging from the response I didn't get them upset at me and a number commented on how they liked it, so I guess it was good. I thought it hit some things hard. I used as the title- Sitting in the Garage? which is based on a statement I heard somewhere-
Sitting in church won't make you a disciple any more
than sitting in a garage will make you a car.
It was my now standard push on there being a difference between being a Christian- a simple act of believing in Jesus as Lord and Savior- and being a disciple- one who learns constantly from and tries to follow Jesus in their daily life. I, of course, urged them to do more than sit in the pew and to continue a strong tradition of having a mission. Nothing new or extraordinary, but it was fun and I really enjoyed being there and renewing acquaintances!
Boredom and Blogs
Bene Diction, among others, has noted the mediocrity and apathy that seems to have hit some of us in the blogosphere this month. He blames the weather. Not a bad choice. When I saw how LOW the HIGH was up in Calgary and Edmonton (- 28 C and -27 C- that's around -17 F) I realized that our daytime high of -8 F today was downright balmy. Even tough northerners get bogged down by this kind of weather.
But in general the January Blahs are more prevelant than January Thaws. Let's see, next Monday is Groundhog's Day. Put an umbrella over his burrow and keep the sun away and we'll be fine!
Decline and Fall
Pen at Gutless Pacifist has gone on an interesting thought. He talks about the reasons for the decline and fall of the Roman Empire and then makes the jump to some thoughts about the decline and fall of the institutional church. Here's the closing:
What if we were to make an analogy of this to the church -- is the American Mainline Protestant Church going the way of the Roman Empire? If so, what five major reasons would you give for the decline and fall of the institutional church?
Here's my suggestions:
+ Biblical literacy disintegrates
+ No/low expectations for church members causes the loss of basic disciplines (prayer, study, social justice, etc.)
+ Worship becomes interchangeable with entertainment - watering down the community's focus
+ Vast amounts of money spent maintaining buildings, organizations, and relationships that no longer serve the mission of the church - but only serve to prop up the institution.
+ The system of tithing (biblically based) collapses.
