There's a Churning Deep Within Me

We sing a song at church; There's a Stirring Deep Within Me. After reading comments on FB this morning, that song came to mind, except the word "stirring" was changed to "churning."  It was not consciously changed, my mind just kept repeating the words, "there's a churning deep within me."  A second song entered my mind; Another One Bites the Dust.

There was a post on FB saying that a local church, a church many people I love attend, would be introducing an instrumental worship service to their Sunday morning offerings.  I could not believe some of the comments made on FB. I am not sure why I could not believe them, because many of the same remarks were directed at my own congregation when a similar announcement was made. Some of the same people made the same hateful remarks in regard to both churches.

First of all, let me say that I appreciate people's convictions. Our own church family lost a couple whom I dearly love and with whom I have served in many capacities because the tradition of acapella is just too important. Our church family will never be quite the same, but we will thrive as will they in their new church family. We will continue to fellowship and work together to serve in spite of our differences of opinion on this one issue. We agree on the larger issue, that The Lord is worthy of our service and we will strive to serve him by serving our fellowman as He sends and equips us.

Several people in in the FB comments expressed sadness over the decision that this church has extended an opportunity for its members to use their God given musical talents to worship Him and to serve their fellow members. I am sorry they are sad.  I may not sound it here, but I am truly sorry they are sad, but I think that sadness is misplaced. We might be better served if we were all a little sadder over the fact that we have homelessness in this most wealthy of nations, or that drug-crazed young adults have access to guns and kill people in schools, in churches, in the streets, or that there are literally thousands of people across the world who daily die for a lack of access to clean water, or there are thousands upon thousands incarcerated people languishing in prison with no hope of a
changed life, and, sadly, many of us so-called Christians respond to that fact with a glib, "they got what they deserved."

Yes, there is a churning deep within me, and, honestly, my own often lackadaisical approach to my
faith breaks my heart and contributes to the churning. There is a world watching. There is a hurting world watching how we followers of Christ are going to conduct ourselves, and Lord help us, we often, rather than enhancing His reputation, are conducting ourselves in ways that the only response we can expect is, "I don't want any of that."  We say we believe that Jesus saved the world, that God loves us without restraint. We pray "thy will be done on earth as it is in Heaven."  Seriously, do we really believe there is some great debate going on in heaven as to whether songs that mention faith and God can be sung accompanied by musical instruments or not?  Seriously?  Some of us take way
too much responsibility for deciding just exactly who Jesus saved on that cross and who God truly loves.

I happen to know that this most recent church, another one to bite the dust (insert sarcasm font), just this week has sent two mission teams, one to Honduras, and one to Scotland to serve those who are in need. I bet those folks they are serving could not care less about instrumental music. I imagine they will glimpse a little bit of Jesus in the hearts of those who have come, and as God always works, those who came to serve with be even more greatly blessed.

And, I am sorry (a little) for this parting shot, but if you are going to pass judgment, please learn how to spell it.

For today, I wish us all the grace to be so busy serving that there is no room for judging, and I wish you

Blessings