Thinking on a Sunday Morning

As I prepare for our worship service this morning, I am thinking about people who are trying to find their way to peace and a real experience of God, but just don't see the Church as any help in that holy quest.

These are generally people who stay away from about all religious assemblies. Now, there is another large group of people in our day who leave churches that are somewhat unclear in their teaching in favor of churches that lay it all out in black and white. Those who are looking for a church/pastor that is confident to the point of arrogance, and those who are looking for someone to tell them what to do are not the people I am thinking about this morning.

No, I am thinking about those whose spirits are alive and seeking understanding and seeking a way of reverence and celebration in God. And, what they hear coming from our pulpits and writings in the Church just doesn't ring true for them anymore, if it every did. I identify with these seekers, because in many ways I am one of them. For me, the ring of truth comes in worship and at Bible Study at times, and in conversations about faith and life at times, but for much of the time, what we do at church doesn't have the ring of truth for me. And, by saying this, I am saying that often what I say and even teach doesn't have much living truth in it - but, sometimes it does, but those times are just not often enough.

As I think on this, the "ring of truth" comes when we start admitting that we don't know much about God's ways and that we don't know much about our fellow human beings and how they experience God. Somehow, in this experience of not knowing, which is a genuine inner humility, a light comes on inside, and a living way of thinking and feeling returns. I believe that what happens is that our spirits become open to the Spirit of God who begins to breathe life back into us, from inside out.

And, it is this very experience of "not knowing" that opens the doors of our hearts and our churches to others. Because, when people see that you really want to know truth and live in truth, they want to join with you. When people see that you care enough about what is really true to admit that you don't possess the truth, then people begin to feel their burdens ease around you. Because the people of this earth who are seeking what is true and who are sick of falsehood (including their own) are tired of arrogance and deception and pretense in human life.