At least be honest!

This being retired and visiting around is interesting work. It is interesting to see how others are trying to worship God. I guess there is no way to know whether what we are doing truly give God glory or whether God feels glorified by what we do. But lots of people are trying and trying it in lots of different ways.

One of the things that has been most consistent is that there is a lot more singing and lot more music in the way that others are doing it than the way it was done in the congregations where I worked. In fact, an effort to increase the number of hymns was resisted in my last place of work. Not only do others sing more, then sing faster. The tempo of the hymns is much more upbeat. The music has been written by composers and musicians born in the 20th century. It is been mostly pleasant to sing with them.

Two things have been most unexpected. One, There is almost no confession of sin in any of the other places of worship where I have visited. Two, There has been very, very little actual reading of the Scriptures. It seems strange to worship in congregations which would tell you they are Bible believing people, and then not have the Bible read at all. Two or three verses as a basis for the sermon is all that is read. Obviously, I have not been in a lectionary following congregation.

What turned me off immediately in the last place I was attending was the first few lines of the sermon. The preacher began by saying,"I don't talk about politics. That would divide us. I avoid that at all cost. Even if I mentioned football, we would have differences of opinion. But if I preach the gospel, then we are all united. In Christ Jesus we are united. Paul said he preached Christ only for it was the power of salvation. In the Gospel of Jesus Christ, we are all united." And I said to myself, "Where does he live? Southern Baptist are divided and there is a new Convention growing. The Episcoplians are split over a gay Bishop. There are people leaving the Presbyterian church and creating an evangelical presbytery. Rick Warren's invitation to pray has got the conversative community in a snit." That was a stopper for me. Preaching, for me, is an act of truth telling, and if the preacher will not even be honest about how divisive the good news of Christ can be, then I have little confidence in his ability to tell me the truth about the rest of life. Even Jesus was honest and said he had come to bring a sword to divide people. As soon as he said we were all united in Christ, he had cut me out of the herd and I was left to ponder the mysteries while I waited for him to finish.

To be honest, the best a preacher can say is that in the face of the great mysteries of life, this is what I have faith in and hope for.