Stained Glass Masquerade

 

Please watch this video before reading the post... It's very, very good.

 Stained Glass Masquerade - by Casting Crowns

 

 

Where do I begin here? I guess I should start by saying that this song has always touched my heart from the very first time I heard it. Yet, until now, I've never really be able to grasp the depth of its words. Back when I first heard it, I'd never seen "church politics" in action. I'd never been in a place where I felt the need to tuck away all the heartbreak and personal failure. I'd never felt the need to lie to myself and to others about who I was and how I felt. Most of all, I had never been aware of the vast broken-heartedness in this world. Now, as I am starting to step out into ministry for the first time in my life, I am painfully aware of all of these things. As for what I am about to write, you may or may not agree with me. If you don't agree, then I pray that you will at least be respectful and prayerful about the situation. If you agree, I pray that you will not just acknowledge the problem, but  that you will act upon any convictions you may have regarding it.

 

My pastor recently made the statement, that "The church is supposed to be a hospital for sinners, not a hotel for saints." Think about that for a moment. Really let the truth of it settle in. From what I've read (because I've only been alive for a little less than twenty years), it seems that "church culture" has changed drastically over the years. I've seen some of it, but not as much as others. I do know that "church" is evolving in many ways. While older churches have a death grip on "the way things have always been done," newer, more "modern" churches seem to be letting everything just run wild. I'm not convinced that either way is good because both are failing to be the "hospital" that they're meant to be.

 

How so? I think it's quite obvious.

 

Older churches often turn people off because they generally aren't willing to changes anything to meet the needs of the society we are called to minister to. They know that good is good, evil is evil, and society is getting worse and worse. They "do not approve of the free-for-all nature of this new generation's faith." They happily sing their hundred year-old hymns (that they've heard so many times that they don't even have to think about it) and beat moral issues to death, regardless of the fact that most of the people within the congregation already know that things such as homosexuality, premarital sex, and divorce outside of adultery are not biblical. They hold fast to the truth and the preservation of doctrine (which is good), but they also tend to hold tradition and empty religion with that same death grip. They are not a "hospital for sinners" because many of the truly hurting people never even make it through the doors -much less to the altar.  Don't get me wrong. Their "performance is convincing" and they "know every line by heart," but for some reason, many of them are growing smaller and smaller and more and more of them are being forced to close their doors.

 

On the flipside, some of the newer churches have chunked "outdated tradition" and banned "nasty ol' religion" to make way for a more "relevant" form of worship and teaching. They've embraced acceptance and tolerance because "God loves us all just the way we are." They believe that as long as one is "good person" and he or she is "trying," God will understand. Their music is exciting and new, yet often more emotionally charged that spiritually moving. They go so out of their way to be appealing to the lost that they sometimes fail to address difficult matters such as homosexuality, premarital sex, and the rising divorce rate. They wouldn't want to offend anyone and make them leave. How are they supposed to come to know Jesus if they aren't in church? Sounds like a valid point, but what Jesus are they being introduced to? The Jesus of the Bible, who was loving and merciful, but unwilling to let people sit comfortably in their sins, or the Jesus that our culture has created who just wants to help us out because He's a nice guy like that? Modern churches are failing to be a "hospital" because they aren't willing to "operate" on people. Healing can be painful and when there's an infection there, it must be removed. Many modern churches are just giving the lost a some "spiritual ibuprofen" rather than actually dealing with the source of the problem. These churches have "traded in the altar for a stage" and while they're bursting at the seams, but people are coming out empty.

 

I said all of that to say this. Many Christians have turned church in the United States into something other than what it was meant to be, but I am happy to say that there are churches out there that have found the balance between the two extremes mentioned above. However, (from what I see, hear, and read) these churches are few and far between. We must not allow this to continue. It is time to close the curtain on our "stained glass masquerade" and become the "hospital for sinners" that this world so desperately needs.

 

If you read this post and agree with me that the American church is in trouble, I recommend that you read the The Bravehearted Gospel by Eric Ludy. He addresses this at length and is far more eloquent than I could ever dream of being.

 

Thoughts, anyone?