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blogging from Idaho
Check out the blog > from Idaho > my blog.
| posted by + Alan | 1:53 PM | |
Sunday, August 03, 2003
Sun morning
Well, it's Sunday morning and it's raining. Nice to sit in the silence and listen to it. We just had our 6th, yes 6th monthly "Gathering" last night. Great time of hanging out and getting to know people. Meet Brian and Heather Sherwood from NKy. Cool couple. Looking forward to spending more time with them. Great time of conversation and pizza at Bearno's. I don't know about the rest of you but I wouldn't mind a change of scenery for our meal after next month's gathering. I don't know what else to call it. I don't want to say service or meeting.
Anyway, I've just been thinking the last couple of days about my time in the institution. You know, the place were it's all focused on the man in charge and the "show" were you can be impressed by his "spiritual gifts" on display and the amount of material goods he has acquired. Anybody been to that one? It's playing ever Sunday morning at a few venues
across this land. I used to be apart of that. Every Sunday morning was like preparing for a rock show and I was one of the roadies, in fact, I was the head roadie. make sure the sound and the lighting are right, fill the seats with the people, push them to the front, provide security so nobody could get close to the "star." Have to stay insulated from the common "fan" so the annointing won't leave. Because you know, when you come into contact with imperfect people the Grace of God will flee. Funny what I use to think and believe what "church" was all about. It was like working a job.
My former pastor was and is,as far as I know, a good and decent man. I learned a lot and grew up in my spiritual walk with him. I admired him and some of his qualities, I never wanted to be like him but the longer I am removed from "churchworld" I can now see that his type of attitude is destructive in the church community. I just can't fathom the concept, and never have, that the sheperd shouldn't be close his flock. The whole time I was attending Rhema that was what was taught. "Don't get involved or too close to your sheep." Something inside of me was screaming "NO,NO,NO." I remember a time when I wanted to schedule a meeting with the pastor, the top dog. So many level's of red tape. I had to be pre-qualfied to see if I was "worthy" of the pastor's time. Of course, I never was. Of the three years that I attended Rhema Church I never had one conversation with anyone on pastoral staff. Hello! Does this sound normal to anybody else?
That's enough for now. I'll rant some more at a later date.
We are not the only community in town but come check us out. We are not trying to steal you from any other church. The Body of Christ should know each other, so come hang with us.
Brian
| posted by Brian | 7:23 AM | |