Cadences of God

According to a new survey of U.S. adults who don’t go to church, even on holidays, 72% say “God, a higher or supreme being, actually exists.” But just as many (72%) also say the church is “full of hypocrites.” Furthermore, a full 44% agree with the statement “Christians get on my nerves.” 

I have spend years hearing these sorts of comments from people and I have to say that I find them sadly disingenuous. I would like to be more affectionate and compassionate, but God simply has not given me this strength. 

Let me be the first to burst the bubble here. The Church is in fact full of hypocrites. Many of them. Even I am a hypocrite. In fact, I may be one of the best of them. My hypocrisies are backed with seminary education and the authority of collar wearing and a good enough mind to concoct many reasons why my hypocrisies are in fact consistencies. 

Let me burst a second bubble. Quite often, Christians get on my nerves as well. In fact, I know loads of annoying Christians. Furthermore, I have been an annoying Christians to many people. (Just ask my wife.) 

But maybe this will be the most surprising truth of all: Jesus – by his own admission - came into the world for those who are sick, not those who are well. (Matthew 9:12) Who is more ill than a hypocrite? We need Jesus and that is why we all go to church. To offer our hypocrisies upon the altar of God and receive the healing grace of God. Many of us are still waiting for that healing, but I am sure it will come. 

If one is waiting for the community where no one gets on your nerves, then it seems we are destined to live alone in our own little holes. And even then, well, I sometimes get on my own nerves. So, to avoid such company is futile and probably a little juvenile. But if you think you can manage that, well, more power to you then. Please send an invite when you get there. 

As for those who stay away from church because of all us hypocrites, I do not understand why you would leave us all behind to wallow in our blindness. If you have figured it out - and clearly you must have if you have moved out of glass houses and into something more sturdy – then why not share with the rest of us. To do anything less, would be . . . well, hypocritical. 

Tags: Discipleship, Evangelism //