Worship-01A-DareToCare

WANDERING SOUL, LONELY HEART, &
THE SIDE-TRACKED CHURCH

With Quotes from First- and Second-Century Christians

DARE-TO-CARE WORSHIP

�� Dear God, we praise you, adore you and worship you.� Your majesty is all power and all nobility.� You wear the universe as your robe, the stars as your crown.� You sit on the throne of eternity.

�� Murray dropped out of church as a teenager.� Later he went back because of his kids.� He chose a congregation that did not have rigid guidelines and wasn't always asking for money.

�� Would Murray feel comfortable in our congregation?� Would he learn that the few rules our loving heavenly Father has for us are just as much to help his holy household as Murray's rules for his own household?� Or would he find multitudinous regulations as set forth in the creed, the synods, and church politics?

�� Alicia never did go to church; her husband did, but stopped when grown.� She basically believes organized religion interferes with people's lives.� She has questions about the meaning of life, but forces them into the recesses of her mind.

�� Would Alicia feel comfortable in our congregation?� Would she find services that reflected both interest and care for what happens to the members in their everyday life and in their hereafter?� Or would she find it impersonal with only a few up front doing the officiating and performing?

�� Dylan says he is Catholic although neither he nor his parents ever attended.� He feels the church won't let people do what is best for their own lives and is materialistic.� He prays sometimes and is curious about what in the Bible could possibly get some people so interested in it.

�� Would Dylan feel comfortable in our congregation?� Would he find tithing sermons, pledge cards in the pews, fund-raising thermometers on the walls, bake sales in the lobbies?� Would he find a church where the Bible is never referred to except an isolated verse here and there from who knows where?

�� Mary Ann grew up in an active church family but now only occasionally goes church hopping, searching for a church interested in solving people's problems and in providing her with a deep sense of spirituality she cannot get alone.

�� Would Mary Ann feel comfortable in our congregation?� Are people with needs mentioned in the bulletin, in announcements, in prayers, in sign-up sheets in the lobby?� Is the worship full of performances that she is expected to appreciate but which she could never feel qualified to be a part of?

�� Sam grew up Jewish, but found church formalistic, narrow and limiting.� He considers creeds divisive of the religious world.� He longs for the spiritualistic, so searches for it through world religions and time spent alone contemplating what it might be.

�� Would Sam feel comfortable in our congregation?� Are parts of our creed written in the backs of song books or up on the wall?� When a particular form of worship is begun, is its inclusion in the service explained intelligently from the Bible only?� Would he feel as though he really touched the heart and soul of God, and the love and devotion of the members after visiting just one time?

�� This survey was related in the book A GENERATION OF SEEKERS:� THE SPIRITUAL JOURNEYS OF THE BABY BOOM GENERATION by Wade Clark Roof. 1

Isn't it interesting that in his survey, no one complained that the entertainment was not as good as TV or the building was not as grant as an opera house or Madison Square Gardens? They all complained about relationships they were not getting at church.

�� Oh, God, we didn't realize.� The visitors and dropouts never told us what they were really thinking.� Perhaps we never gave them a chance.

Lonely Street

�� People everywhere feel isolated from others who really care about them.� They don't feel as though they belong; and if they did, they're not sure they want to belong.� An unknown author wrote this:

There is so much of loneliness

On this uncharted earth

It seems each one's an outcast

Overlooked from birth.

There is such need for union,

Such need for clasping hands,

Yet we deny the brotherhood

The human heart demands.

�� Loneliness has always been with us.� The first problem of Adam was not disobedience.� It was loneliness.� Humans have suffered from loneliness since.

�� Pioneer psychologist Eric Fromm declared the most basic fear of every human is a dread of being separated from other humans.� It is first encountered in infancy.� It is the source of anxiety until death.� Separation and interpersonal loss are at the roots of the human experiences of fear, sadness, and sorrow.

�� Clarence Macartney, a presbyterian minister, in a previous generation, described loneliness in a crowded city by saying, "You could lie down on the sidewalk and breathe your last, and not a heart among all those thousands of hearts would beat more rapidly, and not an eye would be suffused with tears."

�� In LOOK HOMEWARD ANGEL, Thomas Wolfe says, "Naked and alone we came...into her womb....from there we have come into the unspeakable and incommunicable...earth....Which of us is not forever a stranger and alone?" 2

�� Possibly the most desolate description of loneliness was given in the book HOW GREEN WAS MY VALLEY by Richard Llewellyn:� "A man is a coward in space, for he is by himself, and if you feel you are lone, with not even yourself, that is fright for you.� I wonder where the real You goes to when you are strange like that." 3

�� Over one-fourth of American adults reported they had felt extremely lonely at least once within the previous two weeks.� This was referred to by Dan McAdams in his book, INTIMACY:� THE NEED TO BE CLOSE as reported over thirty years ago. 4

�� What is it like now?

�� In an article entitled ";All Alone," in LADIES HOME JOURNAL, 1991, Margery Rosen quoted Anne Peplau as saying, "At any given time, at least ten percent of the population feels lonely." 5

�� Why today?� One of the main reasons is because half America's population moves residences within a typical ten-year period.�

�� Vickie Kraft in her book THE INFLUENTIAL WOMAN said, "Our mobility has made us rootless.� It is difficult to sustain intensive friendships when forty million of us move every year.� These facts encourage shallow personal relationships.� Consequently, there is a pervasive loneliness eating away at the deep inner core of millions of people." 6

�� There are still other reasons, reasons of our own making.� In the book THE DAY AMERICA TOLD THE TRUTH, Peter Kim and James Patterson reported that 50% of Americans said they'd never spent an evening with the people next door, 25% said they'd never been in their neighbor's house, and 20% said they didn't even know their name. 7

�� We add more and more activities to our day in an effort to alleviate our loneliness.� This same survey revealed that adults watch an average of 24 to 41 hours of television every week, more than teens and children.� But all we do is get more and more lonely.

�� God, we know there's lonely people out there.� But how are we supposed to know who they are?� Help us understand.

Even Within the Church

�� The book BUILDING PEOPLE THROUGH A CARING SHARING FELLOWSHIP by Donald L. Bubna and Sarah Ricketts, begins with this account of one of their "active members."

�� "I want to withdraw my membership from the church.� I have been living a lie, and I can't continue to hide it....I have discovered I don't believe in Christianity as a valid philosophy of life.� Therefore, I can't remain a member of this church.� I can't pretend any longer." 8

�� James Thompson, in his book, OUR LIFE TOGETHER:� A FRESH LOOK AT CHRISTIAN FELLOWSHIP, explains that a few years ago some congregations allowed themselves to be analyzed by a specialist studying how groups work together.� The response?� "The great majority of church members had to admit that they knew a very small percentage of the people.� Those who gathered for worship on Sunday were an anonymous group of worshipers." Many go to church as they would go to the movie theater, the author concluded. 9

�� Admittedly, in our day everyone seems to be time poor.� We rush, rush everywhere.� We don't have time for Christian fellowship. �An hour or two on Sunday is all we feel we have time for.�

�� Some people purposely avoid getting intimate with the members because it only means heartache when they have to move on.� Who could fault them for trying to protect their hearts?

�� Others would like to get intimate, but the worship is not conducive to it.� In fact, the only reason many attend church is to make sure they "get saved;" that is, to make sure God feels obligated to take them to heaven when they die.� But they would never invite their friends to attend with them.� Maybe they would a civic club meeting, but not a meeting of the church.� The visitor would be even more bored than the member.� Or, if the church offered entertainment, once that was over, their questions about the loneliness of life would remain hidden.

�� "Within the Christian community there was a sense of warmth: someone was interested in them both here and hereafter.� Here the stranger found a place where the people were 'members of one another!'� It is no wonder that the church enjoyed such growth.� There was no other community quite like it.� The fellowship of the church meant far more than inviting one's close friends to a social gathering; it meant providing a little warmth to people who wanted to belong....The church can minister to loneliness and uprootedness." 10

�� Although people today feel they do not have time for functions outside the Sunday morning worship, their needs can be met right then.� We do not have to wait for a separate period of fellowship to accomplish this.

�� The first-century church certainly did not flourish because the twelve apostles were an impressive group of leaders with their MBAs or degrees in theology.� It did not grow because of their superior organizational skills or the talents of its members.

�� It grew because of an active sense of family.� It started with Jesus and grew like wildfire.� One day "he looked at those seated in a circle around him and said, 'Here are my mother and my brothers!' "� (Mark 3:34).� Indeed, it caught on with the apostles, for one of them announced all believers in Christ were "brothers" (1 Peter 2:17). 11

�� Although Jesus' sacrifice and forgiveness was the power, caring for each other was the essential ingredient that kept the Christians together and drew others into them.� Jesus said, "By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another" (John 13:35).

�� Do we show our love for each other by holding an important position in the church where we're seen a lot?� Jesus said to be the most important we must become everyone's servant (Luke 22:24-27).� That means that if one member suffers, we all suffer; and if one member rejoices, we all rejoice (1 Corinthians 12:26).� That means bearing one another's burdens (Galatians 6:2).� That means receiving our weak brothers (Romans 14:1).� That means strengthening each other's feeble arms and weak knees, and helping to make life's paths more level (Hebrews 12:12-13).

�� How are we to do this if our worship services are full of formalism or emotionalism and people always in charge of other people?� Not only have we created a clergy system, but we now have a clergy auxiliary system - all the performers.� And we will move heaven and hell to protect our system that continually magnifies the leaders, and demands respect by the rest of the congregation - albeit "in the name of the Lord."

�� Do we claim Christian worship is impossible without all the highly-qualified leaders?� That is not necessarily so.�

�� Paul said over and over in 1 Corinthians 14 that what we do in our worship services is to edify each other.� This is not an "if we want to" type of thing.� This is not an "if we have time" type of thing.� This is a command.� Is our congregation doing it?

�� As Thompson explains, "Our Christianity was never meant to be lived alone."� The first-century church took its inter-relationships very seriously.� They did not view "going to church" as just something to enhance their own relationship with Jesus.�

�� The writer of Hebrews said the purpose of our worship services was to stir up one another.� To emotionalism?� To legalism?� To admiration for people?� No.� Hebrews said we are to stir up each other to love and good works (Hebrews 10:24-25).� �� Apparently when this was written, many Christians had quit going to church.� Apparently they had gotten bored because the worship was not relative to their lives.� Hebrews 13:16 says we are to "not forget to do good and to share with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased."

�� If our worship services are designed strictly to "get more faith," maybe we're missing the boat.� Jesus' brother said in James 2:17-19 said, "In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead....You believe that there is one God.� Good!� Even the demons believe that - and shudder."

�� Thompson concludes, "As long as the church is incapable of caring for the sufferer, it has not broken through to establish real fellowship." 12

�� Dr. Frederic Flach concluded in his SECRET STRENGTH OF DEPRESSION that more and more as each year passes, loneliness is being manifest in our society through casual sex, drive for success, and suicide.

�� Oh, God.� All this time I thought I was helping the church.� They said my talents were needed to glorify God.� But, if people are truly going away lonely, what am I doing wrong?

Symptoms of Loneliness

CASUAL SEX EMPHASIS

�� Dr. Flach related, "The growing demand for intimacy and sexual fulfillment in human relationships [over the past twenty years], both heterosexual and homosexual, arises in part....the demise of family life, with parents, grandparents, and adolescents all inhabiting their own separate worlds.�

�� "In spite of crowdedness, loneliness is epidemic.� The average individual feels isolated and alienated, and these feelings reinforce the need for, and challenge of, intimacy.

�� "....profound depersonalization fostered by this culture.... with millions of people the computer has helped to feel like things....The social scientists aptly describe this as a marketing society...more than a little disquieting to hear people discussed statistically as if they were items for sale or rent.� The individual begins to feel like an object....

�� "Loneliness and a feeling of being alienated have become common ways of experiencing depression.� At the same time, many lonely and depressed people turn to sex as a way of relieving that inner emptiness....yet there is usually a sharp return of depression afterward, when the bogus reassurance wears off." 13

�� In THE DAY AMERICA TOLD THE TRUTH interviews revealed that "this sexual hunger leads us to places and practices where the Bible and many federal and state laws explicitly tell us not to go.� We couldn't care less....At a time when greed is celebrated, it is only fitting that sexual greed in the form of the harem should be popular both for men and women." 14

�� The Bible says in Ecclesiastes 2:1-2; 8-11 "I thought in my heart, 'Come now, I will test you with pleasure to find out what is good.� But that also proved to be meaningless.� 'Laughter,' I said, 'is foolish.� and what does pleasure accomplish?....I acquired men and women singers, and a harem as well - the delights of the heart of man....I denied myself nothing my eyes desired; I refused my heart no pleasure.... everything was meaningless, a chasing after the wind; nothing was gained under the sun."

�� But the Bible does not leave us hopeless.� Hosea 8:9-10 says, "They have gone up...wandering alone...sold self to lovers....I will now gather them together."

�� Do members of our congregation feel so alone that, at some time or another, many of them have gotten involved in illicit affairs, just searching for someone who cares about them?� Do our members have an opportunity to share their cares with others every time they come, or are they expected to act "decently and in order"?

�� How are these lonely people supposed to know the Bible addresses their problem if they don't think anyone in the church cares about them, and neither does God?

�� Those of you who have attended your congregation for a long time, get out some old directories and note those who no longer attend.� Make a note of all the people who left because they got involved in a sexual relationship that was not good for them.

CAREER EMPHASIS

�� I have heard female clerks earning minimum wage during a lull at work tell each other they didn't have to work, but they could never stay home because they had no idea what they would do with their time.� They had no confidence they could even think of anything.�

�� Elsewhere in his book, Dr. Flach relates what one career person told him:� "There just wasn't anyone I could talk to.� At work I had what I would call working friends, but I couldn't open up to them.� We had a veneer of camaraderie, but under the surface there was always the jockeying for better position.� Besides, in business you're not supposed to have problems.� Everybody does - but if you admit it or show it, you get tagged as unstable....

�� "And having no one to share feelings with, everything became magnified in my mind.� I couldn't get rid of things that kept bothering me or get any perspective.� I just kept feeling more and more hopeless about things at home, and about my life in general." 15

�� Many people today pursue success in the business world to fill the loneliness.� Resulting success finally brings a lot of friends, but they are superficial.� Some people's marriage is even based on status, and so it too fails.�

�� Then the loneliness comes crashing in.� The loneliness can't even be filled by children, for they were never really close either.� The loneliness can't be filled by aging parents because they've become separated and distanced through the process of trying to gain success.� The final question:� Is the cost for success too much?

�� Ecclesiastes 2:4-11 and 4:8 says,� "I undertook great projects:� I built houses for myself and planted vineyards.� I made gardens and parks and planted all kinds of fruit trees in them....I amassed silver and gold for myself....I became greater by far than anyone....My heart took delight in all my work, and this was the reward for all my labor.� Yet when I surveyed all that my hands had done and what I had toiled to achieve....There was a man all alone; he had neither son nor brother.� There was no end to his toil, yet his eyes were not content with his wealth."

�� But the Bible does not leave us hopeless.� Luke 10:40-42a relates, "But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made.� She came to him and asked, 'Lord, don't you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself?� Tell her to help me!'� 'Martha, Martha,' the Lord answered, 'you are worried and upset about many things, but only one thing is needed.' "

�� Do members of our congregation only feel religiously successful if they have some kind of title, thus thrusting them in a control atmosphere?� Although we don't say it, is importance measured by title - head of this project, leader of that committee, member of the 'See-How-Holy-I-Can-Look movement?� Is our congregation so caught up in success that there is always some program for the improvement of the building, a building that everyone claims is, of course, for the glory of God?

�� How are these lonely people supposed to know the Bible addresses their problem if they don't think anyone in the church cares about them, and neither does God?

�� Those of you who have attended your congregation for a long time, get out some old directories.� Make a note of those who no longer attend because of power pulls or arguments or never being a part of anything.

SUICIDE EMPHASIS

�� After "trying everything,"some people come to a dead end and see no hope.� They see no answers.� They feel completely deserted by the world.

�� In THE DAY AMERICA TOLD THE TRUTH, it was reported that nearly half the people they interviewed knew someone who had committed suicide, usually someone close to them.� One-third of those they interviewed said they had seriously contemplated suicide. 16

�� Numbers 11:14 tells about the greatest law-giver in history, Moses, and what he went through:� "I cannot carry all these people by myself; the burden is too heavy for me.� If this is how you are going to treat me, put me to death right now - if I have found favor in your eyes - and do not let me face my own ruin."

�� Psalm 102:7-8, 11 tells about King David.� "I lie awake; I have become like a bird alone on a roof.� All day long my enemies taunt me....My days are like the evening shadow; I wither away like grass."

�� Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 refers so matter-of-factly - so fatalisticly - to things that should be important in our lives, as though there was no use fighting fate.�"There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven:� a time to be born and a time to die....a time to kill and a time to heal....a time to mourn and a time to dance....a time to search and a time to give up....a time to love and a time to hate."

�� In fact in verse 18-21 he says outright that he was thinking fatalistically.� "Man's fate is like that of the animals; the same fate awaits them both:� As one dies, so dies the other.� all have the same breath; man has no advantage over the animal.� Everything is meaningless.� All go to the same place; all come from dust, and to dust all return.� Who knows if the spirit of man rises upward and if the spirit of the animal goes down into the earth?"

�� But the Bible does not leave us hopeless.� The writer of Ecclesiastes ends his hopelessness this way:� "Here is the conclusion of the matter:� Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole of man" (12:13).� When Jesus felt deserted, he said, "The one who sent me is with me; he has not left me alone....You will leave me all alone.� Yet I am not alone, for my Father is with me" (John 8:29; 16:32).

�� Do members of our congregation feel that meeting with the other members is not worth fighting for, resulting in a constant outflex of members?� Over the past ten years, have our members been committing spiritual suicide by just ceasing to attend church at all?�

�� How are these lonely people supposed to know the Bible addresses their problem if they don't think anyone in the church cares about them, and neither does God?

�� Those of you who have attended your congregation for a long time, get out some old directories.� Make a note of those who no longer attend, and whose lives have gone down farther and farther since then.

�� God, I thought they were just defying the Bible.� I thought I should keep my distance from people like that.� We're doing something wrong, God.� What is it?

Their Friend, the Church?

�� It was reported that when Rupert Brooke, an English poet, was boarding a ship to travel from Liverpool to New York, he noticed everyone had friends waving farewell to them.� But he had no friends.� He looked around and eventually spotted a little urchin nearby.�

�� The poet rushed over to the pauper and asked, "What is your name?"� "William" was the reply.� "Do you want to earn six pence, William?"� Of course he did.� "Then wave to me when the boat goes."

�� The world is full of people trying to buy their way out of loneliness, and their purchases are only artificial.

�� Why, then, aren't the churches full of those lonely people?� They certainly should be.� And could be.

�� Psalm 142:4 reports, "No man cared for my soul."� But we can always have a friend in Jesus can't we?�� Ecclesiastes 3:11 says that God "has also set eternity in the hearts of men."

�� Samuel Taylor Coleridge wrote nearly two centuries ago, "So lonely 't was, that God himself scarce seemed there to be" (The Ancient Mariner, Part vii).

�� In the play OUR TOWN by Thornton Wilder, a teenage girl who died was allowed to return to see her family one more time to watch herself in earlier days with her family.� When she went into the kitchen of her childhood home, she went up to her mother and began talking to her, but her mother did not even look up.� She cried out, "Look at me, Mama!� Just look at me!"� Then she went over to where her father was reading the newspaper and tried to get his attention.� She failed there too, though she pled once more, "Look at me, Papa! Just look at me!"

�� When people come to our worship services, especially the visitors or those whom members do not know very well, is this their plea?� "Look at me, Christians!� Just look at me!"

�� What is the church like to outsiders?� What is our congregation like to outsiders?� Do they see people go into a building and come out again and that's all?� No one is any different from what anyone else can tell?

�� Do we even care what outsiders think of us?� Are we afraid outsiders will come in and "change everything"?� Are we putting our egos in front of their eternity? �We may pay with our own eternity.� What kind of defenses does our congregation set up against intrusion by strangers and change?

�� How many souls are being saved because our congregation exists and because we worship as we do?� We must face it.� Can we do it?� Do we dare make those lists of all the people our congregation has lost through the years?� Do we dare look at each name, each one representing a soul, and cry out to God,"Did we try hard enough?� Did we try the right things?� Did these souls ever know that everyone in our congregation loved them?"

�� It might be easier to stay in denial and not make those lists.� Facing it may cause a frightening depression.� In fact, it will cause depression.

�� God, I know people in the community aren't attracted to us.� But I thought it was just because they didn't love you as much as we do.

Congregational Depression

�� The book THE SECRET STRENGTH OF DEPRESSION offers many suggestions for individuals that could be carried out by congregations because congregations are made up of individuals.� In this section of the chapter, whenever this book is quoted, a word referring to congregations will be substituted for any referring to individuals.

�� Chapter two states,"Any event or any change in a [congregation's] life that forces [them] to break down some of these defenses, for whatever reason, is going to be painful.� To experience acute depression is an opportunity for a [congregation] not just to learn more about [themselves], but to become more whole than [they were]." 17

�� The loss of past members and failure to bring in new ones as they move into our neighborhood is good cause for depression.� For our congregation, such a loss is like a death.� Are these losses being mourned like they should be?� If the loss of members, just like the loss of a personal loved one, is not acknowledged, the problem will come out eventually in a disguised form.

�� "Not only does depression afford a chance for insight," Dr. Flack continues,� "but 'falling apart' can accelerate the process of reordering [a congregation's] life after a serious stress - a loss, for example.� Becoming depressed is an inevitable concomitant of letting go - of [people, positions, pieces of our identity]."

�� A congregation falling apart can be symptomized, not only by loss of members, but also by arguing and spatting.� Take time to discover the deeper problem such behavior is reflecting.� Why do individual members feel frustrated enough to argue or to quit?� Is that hard to do?� It's as hard as any individual trying to discover their own faults.� We can see others' faults, but it is next to impossible to see our own, as hard as we try.� But it can be done in an atmosphere of humility.

�� Jesus' brother said, "What causes fights and quarrels among you?� Don't they come from your desires that battle within you?� You want something but don't get it.� You kill [reputations?] and covet [positions?], but you cannot have what you want.� You quarrel and fight...." (James 4:1-2).

�� Dr. Flach goes on to say, "Depression reduces vitality.� The mood makes it difficult, if not impossible, to envision solutions to problems....denial of [members'] emotional needs in order to defend [our own emotional needs] against the possible hurt of another rejection, were the first steps in the building of [the congregation's] trap....Instead of reacting to them appropriately and working the issues through, [a congregation] denies the feelings, shuts them out of consciousness, and conceals them through the formation of mechanisms designed to protect [the long-time members] against future hurt." 18

�� God, don't make me face this.� I know the only way it seems we can get along is to not try anything new and keep our mouths shut.� We're not growing, true, but....

Funeral:� From Death to Resurrection

�� Before a congregation can be resurrected, it must go through a death.� That does not mean it literally closes its doors and goes out of existence.� We're not talking about a physical death here.� We're talking about a spiritual death.

�� Even though some of the individual members have gone through a spiritual death and resurrection, everyone recognizes that not every member of a congregation is really and truly a Christian.

�� Repentance is a form of death.� The word comes from the Greek "meta-noeo," "meta" meaning afterward, and "noeo" meaning perception.� It contrasts with "pro-noeo" meaning to perceive beforehand.

�� We must put to death our mindsets, our habits, or egos.� Romans 8:6 says, "The mind of sinful man [congregations] is death."

�� Paul told the weak congregation at Corinth in his second letter to them,"We always carry around in our [congregational] body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our [congregational] body"(4:10-11).�

�� Here he was talking about persecutions and threats of death to the apostles.� But can not this concept be carried into the church?� Can not our congregation put its ego to death so that the plain gospel of Jesus Christ - his saving grace made possible by his death and resurrection - can become made obvious to our members and visitors EVERY TIME WE ATTEND?

�� Jesus was so determined to carry out the things necessary to be done for the salvation of mankind, that he did everything God told him to - all the way to torture and death on the cross.� Is our congregation led by Jesus' example?� Are we willing to put to death the way we've always done things, so that we may carry out the things necessary to be done for the salvation of our members and our neighborhood?

�� Was this easy for Jesus?� Indeed not.� Hebrews 5:7 says that "During the days of Jesus' life on earth, he offered up prayers and petitions with loud cries and tears to the one who could save him from death."

�� To put our wills, our egos, our identity, our habits, everything we've always done, to death is torture.� Jesus did not want to face it.� Just what made him go through with it all?

�� Verse 8 explains,"Although he was a son, he learned obedience from what he suffered."� And what was the result?� Verse 9 says, "and, once made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him."

�� By suffering for awhile, our congregation could be perfected and, vicariously through Jesus Christ, become the source of eternal salvation to people in our community.

�� Obviously, no congregation will be made perfect, except by the blood of Jesus.� Still, we have to face each other's faults and our corporate faults each time we come together. �But we can at least try to put them to death.� Why?� So that our congregation can "become the [citadel for] eternal salvation for all who obey him."

�� What it does mean is for the congregation to come together alone - with no visitors - and allow each person to stand and say, "I have had this attitude which I thought was protecting the church because to me....";� "I have been pushing my pet program because in my mind...."; "I have resented....because I always thought....";� "I have insisted on directing...because I felt....";� "I have been afraid of new people coming into the congregation, because...."

�� Then, in the spirit of repentance, let the congregation go to God in prayer - perhaps even silent prayer at first - and ask God to forgive all our inabilities to see things the way other members do, see things the way visitors do, and see things the way God does.

�� Then have your funeral.�

�� Just as imperfect people are not remembered for their imperfections at funerals, we must not either.� Just as imperfect people are eulogized for the good they did and for a savior who forgives and offers life anyway, we must do that for our congregation.

�� Let us not use this as an opportunity to bash the programs our congregation has tried in the past or is now trying, but to no avail; or to bash people who always need to be in the forefront "lest the congregation go astray" without this person's leadership.

�� Instead, let us remind ourselves as a congregation that we are now forgiven.� And now forgiven, we look to God the Son and once more make Jesus our only leader.� Now forgiven, we look to God the Father to raise us from our death unto a marvelous resurrection as a congregation.� Now forgiven, we look to God the Spirit as revealed in the Word (John 14:17 and 17:17) to lead us as we lead others to that same forgiveness.

�� Let us openly declare at our funeral, "Jesus, we will have no leader besides you, regardless of how religiously important other leaders may seem."� "Father, we will base our resurrected congregational life on the way you want us to live." "Spirit, we will follow you, the Word, to the ends of the earth, and we will bow down to no other word besides you."

�� Forgive us, God.� And forgive my specific part in what we have failed to do.� I fall at your feet just as unworthy to be saved as everyone else.� I fall at your feet in tears.� And I whisper, thank you.