Life Lessons

By Pat Ham

We are bombarded daily with opinions, cultural expectations, religious creeds, and rules. We measure these against a worldview shaped for us by our parents, our religion and our culture. Little by little cracks form and we may suddenly find ourselves questioning everything we have been taught. The questions force us outside our comfort zone. They encourage us to consider other perspectives. If you have ever found yourself asking "Why?" or looking for other points of view, you will find company in this series of essays called Life Lessons""a good guide along the journey of discovering who you are in a world that is constantly trying to decide who it is.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Christian Faith Publishing, Inc.
• Release date: Aug 29, 2018
• ISBN: 9781642580471

Book preview

Thoughts about Church

Church . . . Really?

More often than I would care to admit, I have been disgusted with church and all that is considered religious. I was raised in a family that was in church every time the doors were unlocked. Yet, by the time I was in high school, I was questioning everything about church.

Why do we need it? Why are so many people attracted to an institution that tells them what to believe and takes their money? Is one or two hours on Sunday enough penance for a week’s worth of worldly pleasure, exploitation of others, and out-of-control self-centeredness?

The more I talk to others about their ideas on faith, religion, God, and church, the more their responses resonate with my own bouts of cynicism. How has my religion become so disappointing, so full of unanswered questions, and so spiritually unsatisfying? Even more important, what can I do about it?

How has the institution of the church let me down? Those of us who attend, serve, and lead churches have taken the low road too often. We have chosen not to rock the spiritual boat, not to challenge the life choices, and not to demand accountability and responsibility from each other. We accept, and perhaps even prefer, apathy. Peaceful ignorance allows the powers of a church to run the corporation as it desires with no questions asked. Comfortable and secure surroundings meet the aesthetic needs. We cater to popular worship styles or hold tightly to traditional stoicism all to enthrall the audience for the worship performance.

But when the layers are peeled away and the superficiality is exposed, the magic is dispelled. Ignorance can no longer override inadequacy, and the spacing in the pews increases. The balcony is closed to encourage the feeling of a larger crowd below, and eventually ushers rope off sections of the sanctuary. Finally there are so few left the most prevalent discussion concerns who actually owns the building and who gets the money if it’s sold. And the staff meets and asks, What happened?

As depressing as all that may sound, it is happening today in churches across this country. George Barna (The Barna Group) has warned in several research reports that as many as 80 percent of the churches in the United States are in decline.

With church on the decline in the United States, should we assume society is becoming less enamored with things spiritual? What about belief in God and desire for spiritual nourishment? I believe it is alive and well and surviving in nontraditional cubbyholes, perhaps without stated doctrine or liturgy or creed and perhaps without direction or understanding, but it is alive.

While many would not cross the threshold of a church except to attend the funeral of a loved one (and then with some trepidation), it would be wrong to assume they have no concept of God and no desire for spiritual growth. Many have been labeled post-Christian. Raised in the Christian faith, they have been set adrift from their faith traditions by the tides of age and experience. They are not interested in attending church for the sake of cultural norm or habit or because their parents did. They want faith to be relevant and real. When the church no longer offers that, they turn elsewhere or go it alone.

Some are unchurched. These are individuals who have not been raised in a religion and are finding their spiritual paths by hit or miss as they explore a plethora of new age possibilities.

My personal category is disillusioned with church—not disillusioned about God or Jesus or faith in general, but struggling to find meaningful worship in the traditional church structure, struggling to find honest and committed fellow sojourners in the body of Christ. My faith has never been more pressing in my life. I have never struggled more with God than I have in the past few years. And that in itself is an indicator of or at least a true desire for a deeper, more transformational faith. I am drawn to the Bible more and seem to find more of God’s presence in its words. I long for a meaningful corporate worship experience with others who seek a sacred space—a time of reverence before an awesome God.

The assembly of the like-minded in faith is important. We are meant to gather together, grow together spiritually, pray together, worship together, and serve the world together. We find strength and encouragement in our own faith journey from those who are journeying with us and from those who came before us. And so we are transformed into the body of Christ, as a symbiotic group working toward a common goal.

No matter how frustrated I may get with God, no matter how disappointed I am with the church, I concede I need a family of believers to walk with me in my faith journey. It is much too difficult to do on my own. What I need to do personally, and what many churches need to do, is figure out how we can capture the true spirit of worship and the true calling of the church. We need to be willing and open to rethinking how church looks, feels, and operates. The changes cannot be superficial and entertainment oriented. Those of us who struggle with church as it is need something deeper, more meaningful, and more relevant to the world we face every day. The institution must adapt and perhaps even reinvent itself and avoid the creedal and doctrinal pitfalls that too often have strangled the true nature of God right out of it.

We Are All Called

Many years ago, I became intrigued with the idea of going to seminary. I investigated classes at a local institution, but took no definitive steps to enroll. Each year the nagging became stronger and stronger. Something kept pointing me toward theological education. When a new seminary opened right inside my home church, I followed my heart and five-and-a-half years later completed a Master of Divinity degree.

In the third year of that degree process, I became intrigued with what was then called the emerging church. I felt this was what I had been searching for all along. This way of expressing faith seemed somehow more real, more meaningful. It became my heart’s desire to find others who could find a faith home in the uncertainty, liturgical disarray, openness, and honesty of this type of fellowship.

When I graduated I was asked, What ministry are you called to? Some suggested my degree equipped me to minister to children or youth. Others asked with angst, You don’t feel called to the pulpit, do you? The irony is I am not sure I have been called to anything other than a purposeful life lived to honor and serve a God I love. I am not more holy or more religious because I attended seminary, and my friends and family will assure you I am not a better or more pious person as a result of that training. I simply followed a path that drew me closer to a God I had already fallen in love with and wanted to get to know better.

I hope each and every human being experiences this spiritual intensity at some point in their faith journey, when day-to-day existence is surpassed by a presence, a power, or preoccupation that calls for something more in life (more meaning, more purpose, more relevance). It is a response to a void that cries to be filled. It is a call to action that connects us in faith to others with the same type of desires and beliefs. We are called to participate in this world to make