Please note that these are my thoughts and in writing them, I have plenty to reflect on personally. They are not directed to judge anyone but are purely general observations. Maybe you will see yourself here as you pause to consider the words.
Generally, I have found that in our American culture that we can be fairly picky. We like things “our way” and have applied that in many areas of our lives. I think we’ve been conditioned to expect and demand things our way because of the comfort of life, consumerism and advertising. When things don’t go our way, we can complain or get angry. We don’t often pivot or go with the flow. If something doesn’t meet our expectations, we drop it, leave it, or even worse–we cancel it.
One of the things that I have seen Americans “shop” for is a church. I’ve been there myself as I moved to a new city/state. We visited so many different places. Some were small and some were big. It is interesting that when we visit a church, we consider what the preaching is like (Did they speak well? Did it challenge/teach me?). We talk about the music (What was the music like? Only contemporary or a mixture of classic hymns and contemporary music? Was it too loud? Did it sound good?) What ministries did they have and what were the people like? Notice, most of that is about ME. It’s not about praying about a place to see if we should land there. It is about what I like or want. And if there is something we find we don’t like, we head somewhere else.
While church does involve music, it often seems to be very performance driven rather than participatory. Since returning we have visited several churches with a huge stage, lights, and overwhelming volume. While I have appreciated the talent of all the musicians, in my opinion, it isn’t really the best way to engage the worshipper and get them to participate. (By the way, we went to a church in Penang where this was the case too. It’s not just the US. To be honest, we got to the Penang church late to miss the music.) It’s very easy to just be the listener and observer at the church worship concert.
This weekend at the church we attend, something pretty special happened and I don’t think the casual observer would have known about it. In fact, the visitor who might be “shopping” for a church might have found it “off-putting” but man…I think God was really happy about it.
We have a new couple in our church who has been attending a couple months. The husband is suffering from dementia and his wife is caring for him. That already pulls on my heart strings, because I know about the burden of that care. His wife told the pastor that he plays instruments and would love to play in church. He probably can’t commit to a worship team practice, etc. What was so admirable is that our pastor invited him up to join them and play the drums with their last song in the worship set. She did this without full knowledge of his musical capabilities. I thanked her for taking that chance because I know it was risky.
Was it perfect? No way. Was it exactly on tempo? Naw man…but it was so beautiful. He seemed a bit unsure as he began–a little timid, uncertain–and then he joined them, and it was just fine. In fact, I would argue that his imperfection was ABSOLUTE perfection. He can’t give a lot to church. His capabilities are not what they used to be, but he can give this way. He can participate and worship God with his gifts, no matter what they are. Someone who doesn’t know the situation may judge and say that it wasn’t good, but I can’t even express how powerful it felt.
It definitely made me think about how we discourage those who have gifts to give, because we don’t think it will measure up to what we expect in church. How can we do better about being the body and giving grace to those who want to serve in any capacity that they are able? Why do we “shop around”, expecting things that WE like instead of focusing on what pleases Him? It gave me so much to think about and I hope it did for you too.
sharonbernhardt 