Reply-To: "Stu" <[log in to unmask]>
From: "Stu" <[log in to unmask]>


Willing To Be Real


There is a severe malady that has affected much of the church today. 
The funny thing is, that the church is almost proud of its error, 
glorying in its shame.

This is very sad. The spiritual illness I am speaking of affects both 
those inside of the church, and those outside. What is missing is 
authenticity, being real, and being discerningly transparent and vulnerable.

Because the church has degraded into a place where we must look like 
we have it all together,
like we have no doubts, like we have no struggles, and where we must 
perform rather than be, we have lost much. Churches go on to lament a 
lack of community and true fellowship and hope that merely 
instituting another program will fix the situation, and make love 
happen. It doesn't work that way. The church needs to recover an 
aspect of love and compassion that it once knew, and which compelled 
those outside of the church to watch and wonder, and even long for 
being part of such loving community and fellowship. (Acts 2:42-47). 
The church needs to be real.

We have gotten so good at role-playing, acting, and mask-wearing when 
we are "at church", that it makes it very hard to know someone for 
whom they really are. How can a friendship, or any kind of 
relationship, even in Christ's church, happen or develop when one 
person is being dishonest about who they are, where they are at, and 
what they need? Sadly, this dishonesty about a person's true state of 
being is encouraged when the church lacks compassion, sympathy, 
empathy, and desire to meet needs. (c.f. Hebrews 4:15). For some 
reason, too many churches fail to actively seek out needs in their 
own body of believers, let alone in the community. Needs aren't bad; 
they are normal. (Philippians 4:19).

Part of the church's life and ministry is to meet needs, physical, 
financial, emotional, and most importantly, spiritual. But how can 
that happen, unless it actively seeks needs out, and unless it 
cultivates an environment of acceptance and compassion, which invites 
needs to be expressed and shared?

I have had the opportunity to attend a variety of churches in my 
lifetime. Many are very proficient at the 20 seconds or less "shake 
the hand of the person next to you" attempt at fellowship which 
amounts to nothing more than a mere "good morning" or "how are you?" 
Those rituals of pseudo-relationship have
come to increasingly irritate me, because they make us as churches 
feel like we have achieved love and care, when really, we have 
achieved nothing more than a handshake and smile. There is nothing 
wrong with a welcoming handshake, a "how are you this morning," or a 
smile, but we can't suppose that this defines having arrived at 
community, akin to that which the early church possessed and experienced.

I will never forget one church that I had the joy of attending for a 
time in my life. I came there having been to many other churches in 
the area, some with prominent evangelical pastors and nationwide 
ministries. But this particular church was different. It had 
something the others lacked and something
that I needed. The others had excellent Bible teaching and the full 
gamut of programs. People smiled at me and were nice. But, I say 
again, this one was different, and it was because of one factor 
predominantly that I chose to attend there. This church, unlike some 
others and better than the rest, was made up of people who took the 
time to care. Surely, I have to believe that the people at many of 
the other churches cared also. I just suspect that they didn't know 
how to show it, for perhaps they hadn't been trained in it. I felt 
loved at this church, not because everyone knew me, for they didn't. 
It was because the few that had a chance to interact with me as I 
showed up on a Sunday morning made it meaningful. They weren't 
looking at me like a customer to whom they wanted to make a sale. 
They didn't pound me with the gospel. They didn't question my 
wardrobe. They didn't have an agenda, per se, except to be a friend 
to a person in need, me. They weren't satisfied with merely asking me 
how I was doing, and being given the rote response of "fine, thanks." 
That is not to say that they pressed me into sharing things that I 
didn't volunteer. After all, friendship and community is a two way 
street. Yet, their conversation was one of interest in my life, and 
one of seeking how God might be able to encourage me through them 
directly, or through the ministries of the church.

There was no pressure in their invitations to come to an event to 
meet other believers. And the only reason I eventually did go to a 
Bible study group was because I felt that people really cared. This 
place was known by its love. (John 13:34-35), I thought. Its 
preaching was sound, its values right,
and its methods straightforward and Biblically reasoned. Was it 
perfect? Of course not. But when people who recognize their own 
imperfection are willing to let Christ shine through them, such that 
they love another person in his or her imperfection, something 
powerful and wonderful takes place. It is called
Christian fellowship in its truest, purest, and warmest sense. It is 
not contrived, forced, or fake. It is genuine, authentic, and real. 
Needs can be shared without being judged, doubts can be voiced and be 
gently answered, and something that cries, "you are safe", is present 
in such a community.

I only long for churches to have leaders who aren't too busy building 
ministries to minister to people. I long for church people to care 
and not perform. I long for the community that Acts 2 expresses, a 
community even the world marveled at. Such is possible for us today, 
but it starts with being willing
to be real.


Lord, help us to drop the rituals, routines, and charades which block 
Your presence, Your compassion, and Your love from being known, felt, 
and expressed, and let Your church become a place of comfort, 
compassion, care, and concern. May Your church be willing to be real.
Stu
Stuart Swartz
616 E. Boothe
Cleveland, Tx.  77327
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IF YOU WORRY, YOU DIDN'T PRAY.  IF YOU HAVE PRAYED, DON'T WORRY.