Christianity in hiding

While visiting a hospitalized church member recently, I witnessed a better side of the health care system we too often complain about. An occupational therapist was helping the person I went to visit move from their bed to a chair. It is a simple task that many of us take for granted–but for this person it was a huge ordeal and this therapist was working with the greatest sense of care and respect for the patient. When the therapist asked who I was, I told them that I was the patient’s Pastor. The therapist looked at me and said, “huh…I’ve heard of that…people being a part of a church and having their Pastor come visit…I think that’s great.”

While I was glad that my visit was inspiring to this therapist, I was left also with a sense of sadness. The community that is the community of faith is only something that they’ve heard about and not experienced personally.

Connecting with your faith

As a person and a Pastor, I sometimes feel like we hear about Jesus, but we don’t really know him. We are too busy to go to church or just have no interest in it because what we’ve heard about is all the stuff that Christians seem to be against….and we have enough against us already in life so why add more? Or we get into the habit of going to church and we hear the Pastor talk about Jesus, but we don’t really know him…we don’t feel that spark of the divine in our heart and soul.

I am constantly plagued by the question, “how do we change that?” How do we grow deeper in our own faith and get the word out that church really is about a community…a community that is bound together by God’s love and grace shown forth in Jesus? I think we in the church have to quit assuming that people will come to us…that we can simply go to church, be comfortable in our setting and they will want to come and join us. That isn’t happening…there are too many things repelling people from church, so we’re going to have to try harder than that.

In part I think those of us regular church goers need to stop taking our faith and spiritual life for granted…or deferring it to the experts. Sure, I am your Pastor, but I am not you…I can guide you, offer insight, preach to you, pray for you…but at the end of the day your relationship with God is your relationship. You have to own it…you have to tend to it.

Owning your relationship with God

As a Pastor, I would like for people to offer more questions…not just defer to me for the answers. Questions mean that there is thinking…and thinking means that there is wrestling…and wrestling means that there is effort…and effort means that there in investment….and investment means that there is passion…and passion means that there is heart…and heart means that there is ownership.

One of my favorite songs is “Were I a Perfect Child of God”…and one of my favorite lines goes like this: “so sprinkle water on my brow as in this place I make my vow…to own and love my Savior now…and give myself to Jesus.”

Maybe if we go deeper than just hearing about this Jesus to a place of owning him and giving ourselves to him, there will be more us who will know him…and less of us who say, “huh…I’ve heard about that”…