Organic House

A few Sunday’s ago my wife and I went through our normal routine.  We slept in, got up and fixed breakfast, relaxed for a few minutes, then headed to our friends house where we would enjoy a nice Sabbath day.  We call it Organic Church, but we like to think of it as being the church.

The day started out fairly normal and was going pretty smooth until I went to put something in the car and came back making a statement about how filthy it was on the inside.  Apparently this was the wrong thing for me to say, because what followed was a very heated fight between me and my wife.  All of this happening while we were walking out the door and headed to church.  It wasn’t pretty!

Has this ever happened to you?  Ever feel like just staying home, because you’re way too pissed to go and “fellowship” with a bunch of people who don’t fight with their spouse.

If you do find yourself relating to this scenario, the big question would be, what did you do?  Did the following circumstances include a big smile once you got to your church gathering place, even though you were burning and pissed on the inside?  Did you give the appearance to everyone that things were just fine in your life?

One of the things we agreed to when we started the Organic Church with our friends was agreeing to be real.  No more fake and no more putting on a show for the sake of making ourselves look good.  We agreed that we have to be honest and transparent with each other, otherwise the people we are trying to reach will quickly see that we are no different than any other church.

So, when I walked in and sat down in my usual spot at the table for our morning conversation, I didn’t say a whole lot.  In fact I was so pissed and so angry by what had just happened between me and my wife, I’m sure others could sense the tense situation.  One of my friends even asked if I was awake yet and I think I said “yes, I’m just really pissed off right now.”  So, he asked if I wanted to go talk.

What followed was a “real” opportunity for me to express what was going on and how I really felt inside.  I could have easily put on my “fake” smile when I walked in the door and made everyone feel like things were just fine, but where would the lesson have been in that?  The true lesson came by being honest, talking about and sharing it with my friend, and then praying that God would help and see me through this tense moment.

I honestly felt so much better after we talked and had the opportunity to enjoy the rest of my Sabbath day, instead of stewing and steaming the whole time I was there, missing out on the opportunity to experience God.

Church can be real, and honest, and transparent.  I’ve experienced it and would encourage more people to give it a shot.  If you try it and the person on the receiving end doesn’t respond in a way that would help you work through your problem, then maybe you should seek a church that is real and willing to stop the fake pretending and self indulging all for the sake of making ourselves look good.  It’s time to show we aren’t perfect and we’re all carrying around a little garbage we’re ready to unload.  And trust me, you may not smell any better when you get rid of the garbage, but you’ll definitely feel better from getting rid of that heavy load!

I Became a Christian and all I got…

Was this lousy t-shirt.

When I started reading the book “I became a Christian and all I got was this lousy t-shirt” by Vince Antonucci, I wasn’t sure what to expect.  I packed it along last week as I went out of town on business and started reading it on the flight to New Orleans.  What I found was, I didn’t want to put the book down.  It’s a quick read and very funny.  Antonucci does a great job of making you feel relaxed as you read a book about living a life more involved with Jesus and God.

Tonight I’d like to share a little passage from the book and hopefully a few readers will decide to leave some comments.  The title of this chapter is Glow and begins with the story of Moses seeing God and glowing afterwards.  It’s pretty funny, but this part was one that stuck with me for a while.

Antonucci says, “What we all want is to glow.  We go into this Christian thing, we read about it in the Bible, and we believe it’s going to have a real impact on our lives.  We should be able to feel it.  It should change us.  Other people should be able to see it’s effect.  We want to glow.”

“But many of us, most of the time, are not glowing.  And when we aren’t glowing, like Moses, we cover our disappointment with a veil.  We don’t put on a literal veil; we use a veil of smiles and denials.  Christians are famous (or infamous) for this.  We wear fake, plastered smiles as a twisted badge of honor, pretending that everything’s great all the time.  We say things like, ‘It’s another great day to praise the lord!’ ‘This is the day the Lord has made!’ ‘What?’ No, nothings wrong!’ ‘God is good all the time!’ We hide our true disappointment.”

Can you relate to anything that the author is saying here?  Are you guilty of feeling or responding in this way?  Why do you think Christians or “the Church” are like this?  Do you think this is one of the reasons why so many people stay away from church?

I’d love to know your thoughts!!!