what I learned at church last week
I’ve been visiting in Abilene and had the opportunity to attend with the Southern Hills congregation last Sunday morning. Around the time the young ones were going to their classes, a little boy who looked to be about 8 or 9 years old came wandering up our aisle. We were all singing, but he was obviously looking for something.
After about ten seconds, he gave up his search and started screaming, “DAAAAAAAAD!!” at the top of his lungs. It was pretty funny to see, especially since everyone in the pews (myself included) just looked on and continued to sing. This little guy just kept screaming, and… we just kept singing. I mean, neither I nor any of the people I was with knew who this boy was or where his Dad might have been. Eventually, a young lady who seemed to know his parents came and helped guide him along.
I was thinking about how often this happens in our congregations. We are really good at getting into patterns. We know the drill. There’s always a sermon, always the Lord’s supper, always singing, always praying, and always giving, and as long as all those things happen, we stay happy.
If that ever gets interrupted though, it is no good for the person through whom that interruption comes. It would be better for them to have a millstone tied around their ne–
Well, maybe it’s not quite that bad. At least we feel it would be better if they left well enough alone.
Sometimes people get lost, though. Even amid a well-oiled congregation’s ministries, people get out of place. They are looking for their Father. Sometimes they get to needing Him so bad that they step out of line. They get out in the aisle. They look up and down. They might even scream if their search goes on long enough. You can bet they won’t be singing, or giving, or listening to a sermon, or anything like that if they’ve lost sight of their Father. Sometimes that screaming comes in the form of asking for attention. Sometimes it comes in the form of sinning. Sometimes it comes in actual screams.
How should we react to that? Should we just keep on singing? Should we tolerate the interruption in a bemused or perhaps irritated fashion? Maybe we should consider a different approach.
If there is any place in the world where a person should be able to scream out loud for the Father, it should be in our congregations. That’s the place it should be because that’s the place where there should be the most people willing to help.
That’s not how it always works out.
Sometimes we’re pretty content to keep on singing, or to keep on doing whatever it is we were doing before the interruption came. That’s a bad plan. Jesus said that He came to help the sick, and when we lose sight of the Father, we are sick, indeed. The worst thing about it is that, for some people, the kind young woman guiding the way never comes along. Sometimes people are left to scream and cry and seek, and none of us lifts a finger to help. When that happens, they keep wandering down the aisle until they come to the foyer. Then they wander out into the parking lot. If no one stops them, sometimes they never wander back at all.
So, next time there is someone wandering the aisle, screaming for the Father, and interrupting our perfectly good worship service, let’s try and remember why we came in the first place. Perhaps God is more concerned about the welfare of the one child who is desperately seeking Him out in the aisle than with hearing the end of “Just as I am” from the ninety nine who are still in the pews.
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November 7th, 2009 - 04:56
This is a good thought.
(Unrelated- You’re a big, big idiot. And I hate/love you.)
November 7th, 2009 - 06:59
I was that boy!! Luckily Ed Ison got up out of his pew and walked me to his house where he and his family guided me…
November 7th, 2009 - 08:44
Lloyd, I’m glad you’re back to writing man. You know what this made me think of? The Good Samaritan Parable…Not to mention most of the O.T. prophets.
Religion turns dark when it’s forgets this. Thanks for the words!
November 7th, 2009 - 08:56
interesting thought. and rightly so. last sunday at my church, one thing they said that stuck with me is that sometimes the church is afraid to do anything for fear of doing things wrong that they don’t do anything at all. essentially that is what happened with the little boy. no one knew what to do so they just didn’t do anything. i think that happens much more than we think and it needs to stop. we need to figure out how to stop doing nothing. i have come to realize this and am passionate about starting a ministry where people can learn how to get involved or help in any way so that they don’t become lost or can find their way through service. it’s the only way i will want to come to church. being involved in some way. feeling a part and feeling like i am needed. perhaps more people should have known who the boy was and didn’t know him because all they did was sit in the pews and didn’t work as a team to get things done in the congregation to serve each other or the lost.
November 7th, 2009 - 09:15
I really appreciate Natacha’s addition.
(I also like Daniel’s.
)
November 7th, 2009 - 09:44
Agreed – interesting thought. People do get stuck in their patterns. I was thinking about this recently with the use of song books. So many places are confined to songs there. Well, when you do that repeatedly, the words can lose their meaning. We rarely sing new songs, unless there’s a youth group to forcibly introduce them upon the often unenthusiastic older group. This is why to me our churches need to have worship that is more organic. Worship that, by the nature of how it is done, cannot stagnate. It can’t end up being the same thing it was last week. But that’s uncomfortable for most people. This is part of why, imo, the whole idea that we’re part of some restored church is goofy. Everything we do is built off of liturgy of other denominations.
I do take issue with one comment in this post though. “Sometimes that screaming comes in the form of asking for attention. Sometimes it comes in the form of sinning.” Are you saying some people sin in order to find the Father? If you mean unintentionally, perhaps – for instance they go searching and become Islamic and denounce Jesus as Lord or something. That would be sinful, and while they are searching for God, they’re doing it wrong. If that’s what you mean, I have no problem. But if you mean people sin in terms of habitual fornication, or drugs, or homosexuality, or other sins like that, I’d have to strongly disagree. People who are living in sin in that form are not seeking God. They can’t be, by the nature of it. These things are of the evil one – they are spawned from darkness. They are, at their very foundation, darkness. So if one is searching for what is pure light, they cannot be desiring darkness. At least other religious beliefs, though incorrect, may have a hint of light in them (for instance, love for others, or something). But blatant sin has no light in it at all, and I reject that notion that someone searches for God through sin. Perhaps you can clarify this point though.
Anyway, still, good post, but I agree with Daniel.
November 7th, 2009 - 11:17
I agree and disagree with saying sin is a form of screaming out for God. Yes sin is absence from God but people who sin are searching for fulfillment and sometimes when that sin doesn’t fill their needs and they are still miserable they come to realize they were searching for the wrong thing to satisfy them. so perhaps it’s an indirect cry for help and for God.
November 7th, 2009 - 11:25
@Daniel: Thanks, I know, and I love/love you. : )
@Flip: Thank goodness for loving people who show us the way. Also, I miss you, brother. We need to get together asap.
@Storment: You’re right, it can get dark. It’s so easy to forget how far God came to come after us when we were out wandering.
@Natacha: Great thoughts. Actually, my buddy Philip posted some great thoughts on how not to “do nothing” recently, and you should check it out. Here’s the link. Oh, and yeah, really good point about not knowing each other. How can we be family if we don’t know who our brothers and sisters are?
@Sara: bahaha… yeah. : )
@Les What are some ways you’re thinking of that we could revamp our worship to prevent getting stuck in unhelpful patterns?
Also, I was really hoping someone would bring up your point about sin. I thought it needed clarifying, but I couldn’t figure out how to put it in there without breaking the flow. All I really meant about the sinning was that, sometimes, someone who is sinning doesn’t necessarily really want to leave God altogether, but rather the sin is a symptom of the fact that they have lost sight of Him. The appropriate reaction is to go after these people (assuming they will accept the help) before they lose touch with the church family. Of course, if they continue to willfully sin after that, we cannot force them to stay. It’s just a shame when people leave due to sin and no one even makes the effort to get them to come back.
November 7th, 2009 - 13:11
Loyd, I repeat the invitation to come to Italy. I have a job for you… I go to the church that not only is hold on to the song book with a white knuckle grip, but lives in fear of doing anything because we might look like the pentecostals or we might interfere in people’s lives or church might last longer than 12:00 (because lunch must be on the table by 1:00!)… and it’s dying under all that pressure. (literally, since many of its members have actually died off without leaving behind any kind of legacy…) Come help me change it. You speak Spanish. That’s practically Italian.
November 7th, 2009 - 18:48
Kelly, that is a great (or not-so-great) real world example of how these things can happen despite the best of intentions. I really would love to take you up on your offer soon though! I’ve got some things on my plate at the moment, but don’t rule me out!
Also, you’re throwing the word “speak” out pretty wantonly… ; )
November 10th, 2009 - 20:35
This isn’t a serious comment at all, but when I was a young child my father dragged me out to the church lobby for misbehaving and making noise. As he carried me down the aisle I yelled “oh daddy please don’t beat me, I’ll be better, I’ll be better!” (not that my father has ever actually beaten me in my life). If I remember the way my mother told me the story (and part of me isn’t sure if this next part might be something from a story I heard elsewhere), the preacher then said “somebody please help that boy!” to much laughter.
November 11th, 2009 - 13:47
hahaha, little kids doing stuff like that is pretty much the main benefit of even having auditoriums for worship, as far as i’m concerned.