A Well Oiled Machine of Righteousness

right·eous [rahy-chus]

–adjective

1. characterized by uprightness or morality: a righteous observance of the law.

2. morally right or justifiable: righteous indignation.

3. acting in an upright, moral way; virtuous: a righteous and godly person.

4. Slang . absolutely genuine or wonderful: some righteous playing by a jazz great. –noun

5. the righteous, (used with a plural verb) righteous persons collectively.

          A couple of Sundays ago, Lila Jane and I were still in DC, so we went to church to with my sister and her family. This church is called Church of the Redeemer, and as I said to her when we left, it is a well-oiled machine of righteousness. We went to the 1pm service and so did about 1200 other people (there are 5 services total--2 on Saturday and 3 on Sunday) and we dropped our tiny tots off in the Promiseland Nursery and Preschool. The lady at the desk asked for our names, our tiny tot's name, her age and then printed off stickers, one she gave to me, one she stuck on the back of Lila Jane and we proceeded to find her room (we learned after the service that Lila sang songs, ate a snack and danced to her own little tiny person sermon). We were ushered to seats in the balcony, we were late...but nobody seemed to mind. On both of the stickers was a number and we when got to the big people sermon, my sister told me to watch for the numbers on this red numbered ticker at the side of the pulpit as it indicated that my child needed to be picked up from the nursery for some reason. It was easy to glance at this ticker while following along with the sermon on the big screen and at the pulpit below.

         The sermon was good. I heard the second part of The Pathway to Miracles--Acts 3:1-10 (you can listen to or watch it here or listen/watch other past sermons here), you can even get the notes to fill in as you listen and/or watch. We must ask, believe and then receive miracles in order to have miracles. I like that the Pastor (who has a blog) put an emphasis on the fact that it's OK to ask for miracles and it's even more important that we aren't afraid to receive the miracle...sometimes people don't receive the miracles that God has rightly given to them.

          After the service, while waiting to present my ticket to retrieve the tiny person, several people talked to us, I don't think any of them knew I was new, I don't think any of them knew my sister and her family had been there before. That's when I realized that churches like this allow you to be anonymous...I'm not sure how I feel about that? Unless, of course, I'm feeling like being anonymous...but, then again should I be allowed to do so?

         What type of church feeds you spiritually? How do you get involved in a church that allows you to be anonymous?

         Well, off to get ready for church...Happy Sunday!

Going to Church

Church Attendance Important for Christian Living
        I have a hard time going to church. And, I'm not afraid to say it, it's mostly because of the people. The more you go to church, the more you get involved, the more people want you to do things, the more you go to church, the more people see you, the more you go to church, the more people begin to find fault with you and before you know it it's a vicious cycle of...*insert whine* "I don't want to go to church today, they'll just make me [fill in the blank] when all I want to do is listen to the sermon and leave." Which having been raised right, I know is the wrong thing to think, but I can't help thinking it. It seems to me that churches now-a-days seem to be more concerned with the numbers (what big CRAZY thing can we do this week to get people to come?) that they've forgotten about the people who are already there. The people who bust their humps 5 days a week at a job they may or maynot love and then are being told that if they don't bust their humps at church they aren't fulfilling the destiny that God has designed for them. I feel like I am being judged by what I say or do in church everytime I go to church.
          When I was in college, I loved, loved, loved, loved going to church. In a college town like Springfield, Missouri there's always a place for the college kid and in college I wasn't jaded nor did I ever feel that every church I went to wanted a piece of me or that they were more concerned with the numbers than my spirtuality or that they were gossiping about how my sins were bigger and more wrong than their sins. Part of this has to do with the fact that the church came to me...we met on Thursday or Sunday nights, going to church Sunday morning there was always a college class with donuts and coffee and guitars. What happened?
           Sadly, I believe that part of it is the fact that I 'grew up' and in growing up that spark that is lit by Jesus, Himself, has been covered up by Wordly things and my Wordly attitude. When I don't go to church, I ignore the very reasons why Jesus came to this Earth.
Why are we supposed to go to church?

• 1 John 1:3 says that we are to have fellowship with the Father and with His Son and with other Christians
• 1 Peter 4:10 to share our spiritual gifts with others
• Hebrews 10:25 we must meet together to encourage one another

I also like what John Bechtle has to say about attending church:

The New Testament is full of “one another” commands. We are to comfort one another (I Thessalonians 4:18), build up one another (I Thessalonians 5:11), confess our sins to one another (James 5:16), pray for one another (James 5:16), and many more. How can we obey these directives if we stay away from the gathering of believers?

          To go to church means that we understand that there is a greater power than our own and that power doesn't exist in the numbers or the sermons or the people, but in the Lord who exist within us. All of us fall short in some fashion...the Lord does not.

Look at what the World has to say about going to church:
Survey: Non-attendees find faith outside church
A commentary on the book So You Don't Want to Go to Church Anymore

I am playing into this kind of mind-set when I do not attend church and I am not changing the mind-set of the Modern believer sitting on my duff on Sunday watching church on TV or on the internet. I am actually proliferating this horrible stereotype that people have of Christians, I am not doing what the Lord would have me do and I am not helping the Christian church grow.

          Instead of complaining about church and not attending I must go to church and work within church to keep God as the main focus...

          These are things that I'm still thinking about, I do know one thing, however, although I feel like poop (still sick from yesterday), I'm going to get the family up and we're going to church to set an example that Christians aren't perfect, Christians do question, but Christians always find the answers in God who is perfect.

Do you go to church regulary? What are your reasons for going? For not going?

Do these reasons glorify God?