I've been thinking....I know...uh oh...now what! Well, I have been thinking and lately I've wondered if we truly need to think of another way to actually "do" church. I have recently heard several comments from members that have upset me a tad and the one common theme has been "I just don't get filled when I go to church". While this thinking kind of angers me because my knee jerk response is "What you put into it is what you get out of it", I have to think about new ways we can truly be filled without it always sounding so selfish. And I still truly believe that if we all put our time and talents (and not just our treasures) into church whether it's worship, fellowship, lay ministries, community outreach, etc.. we will receive much more than we can imagine.
But the reality is that people go to church nowadays to be filled with warm fuzzies and when they do not feel it, they stop coming, they stop participating, they stop giving. People do the bare minimum to get by. Church has become an individualistic institution where we arrive to the building and sit in our usual place and let others do all the work (unless we've signed up for a duty that day). We walk in and sit down and possibly peruse through the bulletin and when we discover we might be singing a new song that we don't know or not singing our favorite hymn, we're disappointed. We walk through worship with a disappointed heart. Then we hear the sermon and since it wasn't maybe what we wanted to hear, we are again, disappointed. Maybe some days we want people to walk up to us and ask us how things are or in a sense, "mind read" that we need someone to talk to us. I can tell you that no one is a mind reader (Not even Shawn Spencer from Psych or Patrick Jane from the Mentalist), and no matter how much we'd like to believe it that also includes the pastor. So, on that note, if you need something, by God, tell someone! However, no one walks up to you and asks you how you are, and again, more disappointment. Now you walk out of church not getting your way with anything in today's worship. You sit and fester about it and decide to complain to others about it or you decide to stop coming for awhile.
Church has become selfish and individualistic for many people. We have become a consumerist society. We go church shopping to find the right church for our needs. We tithe to the church we choose and if the church is not doing what we think they should be doing, we pull our funding. We stop volunteering for events in the church because we don't like what they're doing or we're not interested in what they do. If you don't like the produce at one grocery store, you just go to another. We view church the same way.
I propose a challenge to everyone. What if we were to walk into church with the intention of filling someone else other than ourselves? What if you woke up on Sunday morning and said to yourself, "I'm going to walk into church and make sure I walk up to someone and ask them how they are doing!", "I'm going to sing every hymn like it's my absolute favorite". You never know, the song you are singing might not be your favorite, but maybe the person sitting next to you desperately needs to hear this message. Sing out and participate in filling someone else! So, the sermon isn't exactly what you wanted to hear. Take notes and really reflect on one or two points of the sermon that jumps out at you. Ask the pastor questions about it. Ask one another. Maybe the message in the sermon rang true for someone sitting in the back row. Be there for them to help them be filled with the message. You might end up being filled and you don't even know it!
If you know of someone who has an idea or wants to organize an event, instead of saying "That's a good idea....I won't come because I don't want to, or don't care about that, or better you do that, than me", say instead "I will go to support you in your ministry!". "I see that this is important to you and I will support you in this ministry or event, or potluck or whatever it may be." I see, too often, that people will not verbally shoot down people's ministries. They shoot them down by not being there and showing support. To me, that's worse than telling someone you won't come. We had a member work really hard to purchase equipment for us to start a Sat. evening worship service. And when we had all the equipment and we had the service sorted out on power point, the day came to start it and only 3 people showed up (and that included myself and the pastor and it didn't even include the person who wanted to start this project). Each week on Sat. evening no one showed up. The "if you build it, they will come" mentality is dead. It doesn't work. You HAVE to have members come and truly support this ministry. Just leaving it for someone else to do it will not help any ministry for outreach or spirituality or worship, etc... successful.
We have to really be in it for each other in order for anything to be successful. Not just the same 10% of people that show up for everything. Eventually, even those people get tired and there is no one around to fill them up again either.
I challenge you to go to church (or to work or any function that you may be attending this week) and go for others. Be there for others! Support others! Don't think about how much you are or aren't being filled. Think about how you can fill others today, tomorrow, each Sunday. What you put into it is what you get out of it! I bet that when more and more people let go of the "me mentality" and start showing care and concern for others, with no expectations of receiving anything in return, we will then truly receive the greatest reward and that our cups will runneth over. How will you make your cup to runneth over?
