A Revelation

As I was sitting listening to yet another pointless message this morning I realised that I no longer attend church on a weekly basis because I want to, or because I long for fellowship. I attend because it is the least unrighteous thing I can think of to do on a Sunday morning.

Before I go further I should clarify that I am not calling the message itself pointless, I am calling preaching in general pointless.

It's crowded in a worship today
As she slips in
Trying to fade into the faces
The girls' teasing laughter is carrying farther than they know
Farther than they know

But if we are the body
Why aren't His arms reaching?
Why aren't His hands healing?
Why aren't His words teaching?

And if we are the body
Why aren't His feet going?
Why is His love not showing them
There is a way? There is a way?

A traveler is far away from home
He sheds his coat
And quietly sinks into the back row
The weight of their judgmental glances tell him that his chances
Are better out on the road

But if we are the body
Why aren't His arms reaching?
Why aren't His hands healing?
Why aren't His words teaching?

And if we are the body
Why aren't His feet going
Why is His love not showing them
There is a way?

But Jesus paid much too high a price
For us to pick and choose who should come
And we are the body of Christ

But if we are the body
Why aren't His arms reaching?
Why aren't His hands healing?
Why aren't His words teaching?

And if we are the body
Why aren't His feet going?
Why is His love not showing them
There is a way?

If we are the body
Why aren't His arms reaching?
Why aren't His hands healing?
Why aren't His words teaching?

And if we are the body
Why aren't His feet going?
Why is His love not showing them
There is a way? As Jesus is the way

This song kept resonating through my mind as I listened to yet another messsage about how we need to just humble ourselves, let go and let God reign in our lives. But there was no "rubber", it was a nice airy message intended to encourage the saints a little without really convicting anyone of their own unrighteous. No clear stand was taken, just a pleasant message intended to encourage us to abandon unrighteous thinking patterns without actually identifing what those are, or what tangible actions we ought to be taking to reinforce a change in our thinking patterns which in turn will result in a permanent change in our behaviours.

You sit there don't care twiddling your thumbs
You don't mind to waste your time contemplate the air
There's no life it ain't right the passive state you're in
Apathetic yeh pathetic can't you see it's sin

You're being judged
And righteously
The sentence is passed
It's apathy
You're being judged
And righteously
The sentence is passed
It's apathy in the first degree

You might be lost might be found doesn't make a difference
Sleepwalking you're just jive-talking obviously indifferent
What'd you care if the world gonna burn
With millions going to hell
You might be with them or maybe you won't
But it' sure hard to tell

You're being judged
And righteously
The sentence is passed
It's apathy
You're being judged
And righteously
The sentence is passed
It's apathy in the first degree

It's easy to realize
Much a' the world has closed its eyes
Sometimes I cry
For Christians to care at all
It's sure Jesus cares
Wasn't passive that's sure
In the comfort seeking church
He calls us to share the hurt

You're being judged
And righteously
The sentence is passed
It's apathy
You're being judged
And righteously
The sentence is passed
It's apathy in the first degree

Apathy in the first degree

Wake up, wake up

We are called to be radically and significantly different from the culture around us and really we are not. In truth most of us operate on the same values that a person finds in the business world, or the social work office, or on our television sets, we might be a step or two more holy but in reality it is the difference between toilet water that has been polluted with urine and toilet water that has been polluted with feces.

Truth be known I can hardly stand the stench of my own hypocracy and I am beginning to gag on the combined stench of a congregation.

Where have we been and where are we goin'
And who really cares?
A trip to the moon, a tryst in the desert
We fall down the stairs

Somebody wins, and somebody loses
It's up to you
Someone's fool and someone is a fighter
You get what you choose

Moses to Paul, Samson to Delilah
It's all the same
You sell out or you put out
And it ain't no game
Scars on our hearts and mud on our faces
On network tv
A passion for success, a love affair with money
It's time to get on our knees

All the talk in the world
It don't mean nothin'
Even when intentions are good
God send His Son to make us be honest
Not just to make us feel good
Nothin' is worse than a self-centered liar
And sometimes that's me and you
But for everyone involved we gotta change
That the world can know He is the Truth

I long for action that reinforces the thoughts that set me apart, but I am so trapped in cultural unrighteousness that I can not see the way out and frankly I can not see anyone else that can lead me out either; only the blind leading the blind.

I hold on to my faith not because I value God, well meaning but misguided individuals long ago stripped me of any love or value for God. I hold on to it because I gives me some sense of meaning or purpose, the hope, no the promise that as a group we can change the world by changing individual lives. But I feel like I have been sold a bill of goods because I do not believe the gospel has really changed my life all that much and nor has it lived up to it's promise for others. Returning to the toilet water analogy, all that has happened is that the fecal matter has been removed, but the fecal residue and urine remain in the toilet water that is our lives.

I want the spring of living water promised in scripture or I want out of the faith and the freedom to pursue my passions before I am condemned to hell because the way I see it no toilet water is going to be allowed through heaven's gates.

The desire to live differently exists, but I lack the road map and I have been stripped of the trust necessary for someone to guide me to where I want to go; even if such a person exists.