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Post by Pastor Michelle on Sept 22, 2012 21:31:54 GMT -5
The Sabbath laws were created to ensure that God’s love for his people would not be interrupted by people’s over eagerness to work more than they should. Jesus wanted to point out that the rules had become more important than God’s relationship with His people. What are some examples in church of things or rules seeming to be more important than people?
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Post by kingdomseeker on Sept 25, 2012 10:16:26 GMT -5
While there are examples that can be brought to the table I would like to take a moment and go a level deeper. I would like to think about what gave us the examples. At bottom there seems to me to be a tendency for the Church to envision itself as an organization rather than an organism. There are bills to be paid, tithes to collect, programs to run, people in this sense become cogs within the machine. While maintaining their identity before God on the vertical level they become lost within the Church machine on the horizontal level. It is on this level that burnout or dissatisfaction can occur. We lose sight of the very real fact that each and every person is a member of Christ’s body and therefore a vital part in the organism of the Church militant. I believe that it comes down to understanding the difference between “Being” and “Doing” but that is for another post.  |
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Post by Pastor Michelle on Sept 26, 2012 16:45:35 GMT -5
yes, yes and yes! This is the core problem with the church today. We have become an organization who values rules and traditions over people. The organism should be more focused on the health of the Body!
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Post by kingdomseeker on Sept 27, 2012 11:35:16 GMT -5
Well said!
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Post by csobell on Sept 27, 2012 13:56:25 GMT -5
I sure have seen my share of this - and I think one of the fears many people have getting involved in ministries is how to get out of something once they start - and subsequently find out they weren't necessarily called for. Sometimes the congregational "traditions" weigh on us - most heavily on our pastors from what I've experienced. We don't let go and all this "stuff" numbs us to that feeling we had when we first took a chance and tried to serve. The challenge of remembering how good we felt and how hungry we were when we first fell in love with Him. The priveledge of being part of a family that remembers we don't need to shuffle our feet, wear sackcloth and ashes - we don't have to take ouselves seriously - we can lift our chin, look into each other eyes - and smile out loud 'cause we don't have to be perfect or know it all. I struggle believing that its a fear of change or just the weariness of a yoke that's grown too heavy that changes really good people into tired people hoping for a hand out of the ditch.
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Post by Pastor Michelle on Sept 27, 2012 20:49:20 GMT -5
I hear echos of other recent conversations in your post. I think that letting go of the stuff might help us to recapture the passion? but it's hard!
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Post by kingdomseeker on Sept 30, 2012 11:36:36 GMT -5
4 Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken the love you had at first. 5 Consider how far you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first. If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place. Revelation 2:4-5)
It seems that Jesus takes very seriously the idea of loving Him above all others. Too many times we become comfortable in our walk with the Lord. Here again we see the need for balance between God's Love and His Holiness in the Disciples life. His Spirit is new every day, there is a vibrancy, a freshness as we look out on God's creation each day. However we tend to subdue that vibrancy through our worries, doubts, inability to forgive etc.
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