Preaching To the Choir

Every once and awhile a song will come along that I can only explain as an encounter. The artists involved in its creation probably heard its faint whispers from their vantage point whilst they were soaking before the Throne of the Grand Composer. Well recently I heard the song “All the Poor and Powerless” by Sons & Daughters. The lyrics, harmony and instruments tug on your heart. It has recently become the central soundtrack to where ever God is leading me right now.

The other day as this song’s lyrics were resonating in my thoughts I found myself reading the below scripture in which the ancient Prophet Ezekiel was reprimanding the spiritual leaders…

+Ezekiel 34: 4-6 You have not taken care of the weak. You have not tended the sick or bound up the injured. You have not gone looking for those who have wandered away and are lost. Instead, you have ruled them with harshness and cruelty. ⁵ So my sheep have been scattered without a shepherd, and they are easy prey for any wild animal. ⁶ They have wandered through all the mountains and all the hills, across the face of the earth, yet no one has gone to search for them.

My heart quite literally breaks at passages like this. What a tragedy that God would ever have to speak out against the leaders of the Church. These very people who are supposed to be a picture of God to those around them—they are not even seeking out the lost. But can I say that today, here and now, we are really even beyond that? I am sure that you are able to come up with one or two ‘christians’ that could fall into the category of this scripture. Would someone else name you? Maybe I should instead ask whether you would name me?

I recently read a poem by a class mate that recounted her experience growing up in a ‘christian school.’ After lines about the rigidness of the program she writes, “God I am willing to acknowledge you/ But after twelve years of being forced to do so,/ I am not willing to step back into your house.” The saddest part about the conclusion of her poem is I can’t really blame her. Too often it seems many Christians, well meaning or not, have driven people away from the Church rather than welcoming them in. When I read this poem written by a friend I wanted to grab her by the shoulders and beg her to remember, the church is not GOD. GOD doesn’t disown you when you do wrong. He doesn’t disqualify the broken, and He doesn’t abandon the needy. But as I had this thought-- I felt my heart sink. No, the hurt people who dwell with in the walls of the church—they are not God himself. But should I really be pleading with someone to not view the church as God? The Church is supposed to put flesh to the Words and Actions of Christ.

One Sunday morning as I was singing in worship at my home church, the room was erupting and passionately singing out the lyrics “Shout it out, go on and tell it to the mountains, go on and scream it to the masses, that He is God.” I had to stop and think, are there those of us that actually go out and truly proclaim his goodness like we so comfortably sing from inside the walls of church? How many of us are really living lives that declare who the LORD of our life is? Are they walking out of these doors after singing these songs and screaming to the masses about our God? Am I?

I don’t have some super solution to the sickness I see in many parts of the Body of Christ, I know that many a church is being used in amazing ways. Not supposed to despise small beginnings right? Start small, start here. Live what you believe, let word and deed go together. I know there are genuine leaders and people in churches world-wide, I guess I am writing simply to ask you to allow your words and actions to not be contradictions. Help the word Christian deviate from being a synonym for judgment and hypocrites. Maybe we’ll reach a day where the cry won’t ever have to be uttered, “Jesus—save us from your followers.”