Know what you want before you go shopping!

I have recently come to the conclusion that about 80% of the people who come into the office where I work don’t have a clue what they want when they walk through our doors. Maybe they are hoping that we can offer guidance on the bills and resolutions they want the House and Senate to pass. I cannot imagine walking into any situation as blind as they seem to be.
But then I got to thinking about another situation. Recently a dear acquaintance read the book “So You Don’t Want to Go to Church Anymore” by Wayne Jacobsen and Dave Coleman and now believes she does not have to attend church to have a complete relationship with Christ. The Bible is pretty clear about “not forsaking fellowship with others” so we need to associate with like-minded folk as much as possible. And the real problem is we already ALL forgo too much in our relationship with Christ. This is supposed to be a friendship, He is supposed to be our brother, yet, for a lot of us, we barely ever talk to Him, we forsake devotional time, prayer time, and other opportunities because life gets in the way. Can we afford to forsake church?
Church, the people or the building, gets on everyone’s nerves once in a while. The temperature is not to our liking, some kid is screaming during the service, someone new (God forbid!) has our seat, or there is that thing called reality. Finances are strained, the weather is awful, the kids or the wife is sick, our back hurts, we feel like staying home and watching football, and sometimes we just do not like the person who is speaking. I recently did an all-night lock-in, and quite honestly I felt like doing nothing for a week afterwards. How do adults make it to church two hours after a lock-in? How does pastor make it to Sunday morning service after being at the hospital all night with a dying person? It comes down to this: remembering the friendship, keeping the commitment.
Like the people that come into the office looking for guidance, that is what we are all looking for when we go to church. Our problem, like theirs, is that we are not honest enough to admit it. Imagine if you walked into church this Sunday morning, and Pastor walks up and says “How are you?” and you grab his microphone off his head or lapel, and you scream to everyone that can hear, “How am I, let me tell you, I am hurting today, my kid is sick, I cleaned up cat puke four times before I left the house and expect more when I get home, the bills are late, we have no money until payday and we need gas, there are members of my family that do not speak to me over past hurts, I have to diet, I need friends, I need tearcatchers, please help me.” What do you think would happen? First, there would be people to help you, to listen, to let you borrow money, to catch your tears. But there would also be people wanting the microphone after you were done. That is what true church is about: friendship and commitment.
So if you are thinking about leaving, please stay. Not everyone is a jerk. And if you are tired of looking at the horse’s butt, walk around to the front of the horse. For, believe it or not, there are people at your church just like you. Hurting, needing, craving more. Maybe you do not go for yourself this week, maybe you go for someone else.