If you read this blog, you will know that I am easily distracted. In fact, almost anything that is visual distracts me because I am a visual person. I will miss my place in a shopping queue to stare in astonishment at somebody who is a significant eyebrow sniffer (someone whose nose is too far away from their upper lip) or I might find a choice piece of graffiti that distracts me from my cycle ride home:
It is for this reason that I worry about my focus on what is happening in the church and in Christianity as a whole. Whilst the world looks to Florida and stands like a kid in a sweet shop looking at the amazing stuff that appears to be happening, we must be careful not to lose the focus on the ground that we are called to. What is happening HERE in the UK? Actually, there is some exciting stuff happening here too - people are being healed from sicknesses and illnesses which is fantastic. However, this is not a magic show - we are not here to watch a display of miracles - miracles cannot get you to heaven in themselves. They might cause you to believe which is superb, but love God first. The first commandment is “Love the Lord your God” and it should also be the first commandment of our lives.
Also in the UK there is a very disappointing feeling amongst so-called charismatic Christians of despondency. People stand with their arms folded at church, unable to quite ascertain exactly what it is that is causing them to feel a sense of disappointment. So we respond by saying that the preaching is bad, or the worship doesn’t sound very good (?!) etc. Is the preaching actually bad or is our attitude just bad? I think mine is sometimes.
I prayed about this because I was struggling with hearing these sentiments everywhere I went and feeling them myself at times too. I began to wonder if there was a problem with our congregation and was struggling to determine what it could possibly be. As I prayed I was reminded of a conflict with someone a week ago about my faith. I picked up the newspaper and I saw a programme advertised which slammed Christianity as a whole by talking about “Christian fundamentalism”. I saw a science festival leaflet advertising Richard Dawkins as an exciting speaker. More and more, there are instances of Christianity being slammed in the media, so much so that it actually feels really hard to be able to say that you are a Christian! Someone even told me that I have a bit of a split personality because on one hand I am quite fun and love pink and on the other hand I say I am a Christian!! How ridiculous.
Persecution is causing despondency, but the persecution is clever. It is very, very subtle. The media are infiltrating peoples’ minds with programmes about things like ‘Christian fundamentalism’ which effectively say “aren’t all Christians ridiculous?” and we cringe with embarrassment and shrink deeper into our shells. The bottom line is that the church needs encouragement. There are some fantastic things happening in the church - an example that springs to mind is The Noise the other week where the church went into the community and made a difference through a series of community projects. Oddly enough this is not made into a TV show, but instead the media choose to slam us for (often incorrect) viewpoints. We can sometimes be guilty of being too legalistic about Christianity and forget the very basic premise of loving God and loving others.
I thought about how in Paul’s time, there were similar experiences. His response in such a time was to encourage the church, but the only way he could do this was to write letters, as he was in prison. I am not in prison, but how do we encourage the church? I need to start with my attitude. Genuinely though, this is a work in process, how DO we encourage the church? On thing is for sure, we must not get distracted and point at Florida and say “Wow look at that!” Point at God and say “Wow look at God.”
