In our fast track world, people like instant gratification, or at least quick results. In a recent factoid, I explained how quickly disappointments can occur if your expectations are too high. You can become disenchanted with people, places and things. This can even happen in the place you go to for rest, renewal and refuge - your place of worship. For simplification of terms, I will call it a church.
As part of a faith-sharing group, I listened to multi-denominations share their expectations and disappointments regarding their Saturday, Sunday or any day of worship.
1} Many of the group did not like the emphasis of the church asking for money. Some of them complained that it was an on-going practice. We all know that worship establishments have bills like the rest of us. They pay electricity, heating and air conditioning, cleaning, taxes, salaries, etc. If you have concerns where all the money is going, offer to be part of the Finance Committee. You will see where it goes and have a voice in how it is distributed. If you are not asked to join, most Finance Committees have an open door policy whereby you can sit in and listen to where the money is going. If they don’t, initiate one by addressing it to the building or church administrator.
2} Closely related to regular collections is the matter of tithing. How much treasure do you tithe? Tithing is explained in Deuteronomy 14:22 “You shall truly tithe all the increase of your grain that the field produces year by year." The definition of the tithe was very simple and plainly laid out for Israel. They were to gather their harvest and count the tithe out from what they’ve gathered. For instance, if you had 100 apples, you must count them out from one-to-ten, and the tenth one you set aside for the Lord – Leviticus 27:32. Today, many denominations pay heed to the 10% of income for church tithing. And many people complain that they cannot afford that. I am not here to argue church’s expectations of tithes or what you should give. I believe that it is an individual choice - some give more; some give less and it should be a personal, private choice and not made public. From Scripture: Luke 21:1.
He {Christ} looked up and saw the rich putting their gifts into the treasury, and He saw also a certain poor widow putting in two mites. So He said, "Truly I say to you that this poor widow has put in more than all: for all these out of their abundance have put in offerings to God, but she our of her poverty has put in all the livelihood that she had." Consider the fact that Jesus in His ministry saw this poor widow put in two mites and he took note of it. Jesus took note of it and it is mentioned in the Bible because it wasn’t the amount of the money, because it was very small in its monetary value. But it was that which motivated that giving. It was a heart filled with love and adoration, and commitment and devotion to the Lord. It was a woman who was willing to put in all the livelihood she had in order to express her love to God. What you give is between you and God no matter how much or how many times you are asked.
3} Some of the group complained of their leader, pastor or priest. They simply did not like him or her. They did not feel he was leading the congregation correctly, said improper things, was insensitive, and many other things. In other words, he was imperfect. We all are imperfect. Even church leaders. It is a difficult life for many of these leaders; it is a solitary life, especially if they don’t have partners to share stress with. And there is a lot of stress. Besides juggling the church’s expenses, administration, activities and worship programs, the church leader also give counsel, oversee funerals, weddings, christenings, baptisms, etc. etc. They are very busy people and churches are usually short-handed. If you don’t like the leader, volunteer to do some of the leg work he or she does routinely. Catholics have ministry programs to give communion to hospital or shut-ins, bereavement committees help with funerals; there are countless things you can do to help an overworked religious leader. And they LOVE home-cooked meals AND the company - invite them to dinner; you may see another side of them.
4} Everyone complained about children and small babies at church. Especially the fidgety and wailing variety. I admit that I use to complain about this, too. Religious leaders always want the children in church - some churches have separate glassed rooms for young ones and not disrupt the congregation. As distracting as it may be to have a young child making noises or crying near you, most parents put a lid on it quickly or take the child out for a bit. My feeling is that children who attend church with their parents from an early age quickly adjust and become part of the church community easily and lovingly. It is natural for them to be there with family and most likely will duplicate this faith with their own families in the same way. What does Jesus say? Luke 18:15-17
"People were also bringing babies to Jesus to have him touch them. When the disciples saw this, they rebuked them. But Jesus called the children to him and said, "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. I tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it."
5} Some of the group complained they did not like the people in their church community; they were too high class, too low-class, too gossipy, and the beat goes on. You don’t go to church for the people - you go to church for God. There are people all around us we may not care for - maybe even in our own families, but we don’t go look for another family. Many times, the dislikes you feel are cosmetic; you may not really know the other people and let’s face it, you don’t have to socialize with them; you attend church with them, same as attending college or any social belonging. Focus on why you are in church; and don’t focus on the people. You can be friendly and sincere, but you don’t have to live with them. Even Jesus had altercations with his twelve disciples. Peter and James wanted the honor of being on His right and left side in heaven to the consternation of the other ten. Another time, ’An argument started among the disciples as to which of them would be the greatest." Luke 9:46-56 Jesus didn’t replace them; and he didn’t go to another town looking for 12 different ones. There will always be church members in ANY church you may not see eye to eye with, but you are there to worship and they are part of the community. Maybe they harbor similar feelings about you. Bloom where you are planted and try to grow in faith with everyone, especially those who are different from you. You are there to worship; not socialize.
Ref: McDonald Road Sermons converted to HTML and last updated 4/21/04 by Bob Beckett English:
St. Mark’s Episcopal Church, Hoosick Falls, NY, USA - This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike 3.0 License. In short: you are fEnglish: St. Mark’s Episcopal Church, Hoosick Falls, NY, USAree to share and make derivative works of the file under the conditions that you appropriately attribute it, and that you distribute it only under a license identical to this one
