The World I know

Are we listening?
Hymns of offering.
Have we eyes to see?
Love is gathering.
All the words that I've been reading
Have now started the act of bleeding
Into one.

So I walk up on high
And I step to the edge
To see my world below.
And I laugh at myself
While the tears roll down.
'Cause it's the world I know.
It's the world I know.

"Has Christianity Become UNCHRISTIAN?"

That is the title to a recent article in Youth Worker Journal by David Kinnaman. The key point in this article is that for millions of Americans "Christianity has come to represent hypocrisy, judgmentalism, anti-intellectualism, insensitivity and bigotry. It's easy see why the next generation wants nothing to do with it."

I posted the collective soul lyrics because this is how I feel. This article has shed light onto the world I know. It is the world in which I was raised. A friend of mine told me that he could find the American church in the New Testament without reading any of the Gospels. After thinking on that statement for a while I came to one conclusion. That's it! We have focused on the rules of church so much that we have missed the heart of Christ's Church. Simply said if you show up and you don't drink or smoke you are considered spiritual. As long as you look good on Sunday morning and are good at hiding your dirt no one will ever say a word about your questionable life choices aside from Sundays.

The sadness to me is that the world I know fits the findings in the study. When I look at the words of Christ I see a man absolutely opposed to these traits. To be the Church Christ began we must have His heart. Christ has always been more impressed with whats inside than the outward show. The world is not starving for the rules of Christianity. The world is not starving for flashy programs or slick speakers. The world is starving for the Body of Christ. The world is starving for a place that is real. That doesn't hide its bumps and bruises. If the Church will accept that is full of sinful people and allow Gods grace to take care of it, the world will begin to see Christ at work and therefore Christ will be lifted up instead of our programs and our styles and sinful hurting people will be drawn to Him.

While this is the world I know, I am not worried. I know Christ Church cannot be destroyed. I know that God is still at work in our lives. I know that a generation who loves God will have the chance to become the Church Jesus intended.