No one is more surprised than me that I am writing a blog in defense of church. There have been times in my life that I would have been hard pressed to justify its existence much less consider it beneficial. Seems strange coming from a pastor, eh? True nonetheless. For me, church is often a struggle between what I believe it can be and what I feel it is. Depending on the circumstance, I am pulled one way or another. When the scars I have received from organized religion are aching from the cold indifference and machinations of church leaders and their well-intentioned protégées, I am tempted to say scrap the whole thing! But is that truly advantageous? Experience tells me no.
My frustration with church, and I would suspect, yours as well, tend to lie in three categories: it can be judgmental, hypocritical, and painful. All three of these can be true. If you have never experienced them in context with a church, you either haven’t gone enough times or you are a member of the greatest church ever and I want to join. The question is, despite the existence of such things within the confines of church, is it still worthwhile? I would suggest that it is.
There is fine line between judgmental, a negative thing, and constrictive, a positive one. The fact that the church can be constrictive is amazingly good for us. Left to run free, our lives tend to swing out of control. Participating in church tends to set boundaries on us that stem from such basic influences as peer pressure. That can sound horrible, but the truth is we succumb to influences in every aspect of our lives and if church can provide ones that direct us into Godly decisions, that is beneficial. Even when the line is crossed and we face judgment, there is often truth to be discovered. And truth, regardless of how it is expressed, is still truth. That doesn’t make it palatable, and my hope would be that no one would ever face human tendencies of judgment within the confines of my church or any other, but it doesn’t negate the positives of the institution. We should not dismiss the benefits of the confines of Godly living that we discover in church due to the possibility (or, unfortunately, the probability) that we may get judged.
All humanity is hypocritical at heart. None of us live up to the perfect ideal that we believe in. But the failure to achieve greatness should not stop us from aspiring to greatness. I recognize that church is full of hypocrites, mostly because I am so adapt at playing one. On a regular basis, I challenge my church with a life style and relationship that I fall short of portraying. I wish it wasn’t true, but there you have it. Does that mean the standard that I have raised is wrong? No, I means I am. Yet within a community of faith, I am still challenged to pursue that standard, even if I haven’t achieved it yet. Hypocrisy isn’t a reason to avoid church, it’s a reason to attend. Where else in life are we forced to see it so clearly and challenged to rise above it?
Finally, church is a ridiculously easy place to get hurt. We are dealing with issues of the heart, intensely personal, so it doesn’t take much to bring offense. Let me assure you, I bear the scars of careless words, well intentioned correction, and the gears that grind in pursuit of a dream. These are wounds that were inflicted on me by people who proclaimed they loved me. When I examine them and find myself overwhelmed by their magnitude, I find it almost impossible to justify entering a church again. Yet when compared to the pain that I could have experienced outside of the church environment, I count myself lucky. Don’t get me wrong, the hurt inflicted on me by people within the church was wrong. Absolutely. But the pain I have avoided by living within its community and its influence make it worthwhile.
If you hate church today, I understand. I don’t question the validity of your experience. But I would suggest that you can cut off the massive flow of benefits that church provides because you have come to hate certain areas where it has been exposed to be negative. Don’t reject the tip of the iceberg when there is so much more beneath the surface. It has taken me much of my life to see it, but there is no better place for me to be than within a community of people who are seeking Jesus. It won’t come close to perfect, but it will be good for me. So I know where I will be on Sunday morning. How about you?
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