Coffee, tea, or God?

September 15, 2009
Do you prefer coffee, or are you strictly a tea drinker? Do you crave the early morning experience of that first sip of warm brew? Do you think about it, yearn for it, from the time the alarm breaks your peaceful morning musings, or the moment your tender tootsies hit the hard, cold reality of the floor? Do you sigh in utter contentment when the first sip courses across your tongue and down your throat? Do you hold the cup in your lap, allowing the warmth to renew your fingers, travel through your hands to your arms, and maybe warm your heart? Have you ever driven out of your way to pick up a cup of heavenly potion, and waited in line to receive the gift of a renewal, revitalization, and resurrection held in one tiny cup?
What if we had the same feelings about God that we have about our caffeine cravings? What if we experienced God each morning with a sense of pining and passion? What if our first thought in the morning was to find the message God had for us that day: maybe a passion hidden in the early morning dew or the breaking sun? What if we experienced utter contentment in a word written in scripture or a poem, or in music? What if we felt God moving through our fingers, along our arms, and into our hearts? Do we think we might stand in line and wait for the gift?
How do we experience God?

The First Time

Coming to a church on Sunday morning for the first time can be a difficult and intimidating act. It takes a lot of courage for a person to enter the worship space, particularly if they are alone. Often, people come to church for the first time after a recent difficult transition: a move to a new city, the death of someone close, or the loss of a relationship. They are looking for comfort. Maybe they have been away from the church for awhile. Perhaps they have had a bad church experience. Recently, I've noticed many of our visitors come with friends for the first time or two. Do you remember the first time you visited your church? How did it feel? What made you uncomfortable? What made you comfortable? When did it start to feel comfortable? What might have made you feel more at ease?

Too Busy to Pray?

Why do people shy away from prayer? Is it unfashionable? Do only fanatical Christians pray? Is there a fear of being swept away in an uncontrollable tsunami of the Holy Spirit? Do some Christians think prayer is passé, only for children? I don’t really understand why anyone, given the power to transform their life into something better, beyond their imagination, would not take advantage of that source. Yet, that is exactly what God gives us, the power to co-create with the Divine, to live life anew and refreshed, indeed to be part of something few people ever experience: the kingdom of God.

That is not to imply that the kingdom has not been given to all of us. It has. Yet, without the power of prayer most folks will miss it, walk past it, sink, drown, and never know the immense gift that was given from the beginning.

In his book, Too Busy Not to Pray, Bill Hybels describes prayer as an “unnatural activity.” He goes on to write:

From birth we have been learning the rules of self-reliance as we strain and struggle to achieve self-sufficiency. Prayer flies in the ace of those deep-seated values. It is an assault on human autonomy, an indictment of independent living. To people in the fast lane, determined to make it on their own, prayer is an embarrassing interruption.

Prayer is alien to our proud human nature. (p. 9)

Why do you think people are reluctant to pray? Is it simply inconvenient, or is there more?

Wildly Successful

Recently, I was struck by a blog written by a friend and colleague, about her “wildly successful” church. Hmm, I thought. I’ve been to that church. They share donated space, don’t have an organ, or stained glass, or even a pulpit to preach from. About 25 to 30 people congregate there weekly. Yet, they know themselves to be “wildly successful.” What makes a church wildly successful? Perhaps it is more than filling the pews.

At Wildly Successful UMC, they cite their work to become an anti-racism church, and proudly acknowledge their efforts toward inclusion and equality. They model a way of doing church that is “radically relevant” in the 21st Century. They envision their own building one day, a community center that provides a home for their congregation, but also houses a counseling center, office sharing for small non-profits, community room, day laborers' center, and interfaith worship space. That is a very different vision of church.

So what is your vision of the 21st Century Church? What would that look like in Suburbia, USA? What is the world’s great need? Where is God in all that?