Do We Smoke What We Sell?

I live in a dualistic tension of two opposing worlds. In one world I am training to be a minister whilst, in my other world I don't know if I would go to church if I didn't work for one. I find myself sitting on a fence torn between both sides creation and understanding of spirituality.

I am currently reading a book called "The Invisible Church" by Steve Aisthorpe. If you have not read it I can't recommend it highly enough especially if your on the pro-Church side. It does highlight some stereotypes and misconceptions about those who are "Christian" and chose not to go to "Church".

One of the most helpful things to read was that a lot of people have left the Church have done so to aid their faith rather than to lose it. I think that people have often found that Church can be a great place if you ascribe to the values and understandings of the social norms of these communities. In other words if you hold to this set of beliefs and behaviour then you will do just fine.

I think that Aisthorpe has some really great insights but I think he has missed an important word here. I think the word integrity...

I my previous post about pillars I suggested that we live in a post-pillar world. Where pillars that seemed to hold up modern society were currently being eroded. The Church has not escaped the change in social norms. I think people leave the C/church because of a deep sense of integrity to themselves. I think it is something that should not be shunned but encouraged. I think Jesus would rather have people that are honest about their faith than to fake it till they make it. Leaving says I cannot continue to lie about where I am. That's a powerful place because it goes to our central understanding of God. God is about honesty. The question is how does the Church aid people in their discovery outside of it's borders?

However, the second thing I want to raise is a generalisation about Church. I know that not all communities fit this mould but I see this rather as the exception rather than the rule. I don't think the Church actually smokes what it is selling or at the very least it has forgotten what it is selling.

Now this might come as a shock to most people (especially because religion is the opium of the masses) but, here is what I am getting at.

• We worship a poor saviour (in fact homeless) but yet we have massive buildings and big bank accounts
• We preach "do not worry about tomorrow" and yet we have big investments
• We sing about that the earth is the Lords and Everything in it and yet we speak as if we own everything 
• We hear how God is to be found outside in nature and yet we struggle when people find God outside our walls
• We are told that the Kingdom is within us and then we are told to shun our deepest emotions
• We are told that we are created in the image of God and somewhere along the lines we are told to shun our bodies
• We are told that our job first and foremost is to love our neighbour and yet we cant even love the denomination down the street
• We are told God will not listen to us if we do not care for the poor but yet we somehow place a large section of our time and resources on a couple of hours on a Sunday
• We preach about the Kingdom of God and yet we build our own kingdoms.

The list actually goes on and on and on ... I think we as the Church have a massive integrity issue. I honestly think that is one of the central issues we as a Church face. When I say the Church I also include myself in these issues 

We now live in this post-pillar world. I heard some young people the other day question the value of Christian Aid because a large portion of their fundraising goes to funding big salaries. Whether that is true or not the probing question boils down to an integrity issue.

So maybe I do have a unique perspective to offer. I have seen the Church to be a really restorative place. Where it has healed me. But, some of my deepest scars are from the Church as well. A new question for me is how do I live and love with more integrity? What does it mean to follow Jesus in our world? If it's about getting into heaven and just making sure I don't piss God off... well... then maybe that's not for me...because that's not living with integrity that's living with a burden.