Which of our current rituals inhibit our ability to deliver on the great commission?  Have we bought into a sequence of events, schedules or structures that actually detract or limit our capacity to spread the Good News.  This apparently is the case as even the Churches with mega entertainment programs continuously struggle to keep members in the seats and money in the coffers.  Fire and brimstone no longer the draw, now Pastors must deliver pat messages in record time so that each of us may return to our comfortable spot on the couch.  How large a factor is the current “Ritual” structure of worship to blame for this loss of interest?  Or is it just inevitable that churches will dwindle in membership, interest and attendance leading up to the times of tribulation?  It is a question worth contemplation, discussing and taking to the Lord in Prayer.

I don’t see anyone doing anything Spirit Driven.  Please don’t misunderstand me I am not talking about the caterwauling, speaking in tongues, snake handling spirit.  I am speaking of a church like the first century, where taking the message out to the neighboring towns was the objective and the church met to pray for, prepare for, fund and celebrate the success of those Kingdom efforts.  Now we seem captured by the Professional clergy oration scenario that requires us to maintain attention listening to one person for about an hour, more often forty minutes, hoping to hear something that smacks of the Spirit’s Voice.

The same ole, same ole just is not working.  Sure there are the golden orators who can hold a room of thousands of people’s attention for that long, but I can’t help but think that is not what God intended.  He wanted us all to be involved in, exited about and committed to the process.   I am not saying throw out the baby to prepare for clean water because that has been tried by these mega churches.  The results are evident, what you get is a room full of amusement park attendees, mustard tree nesting birds and people who neither know Christ nor the Bible who feel that they have checked the get out of hell free box on their application to Eternitytown.  I am talking about respecting the rituals but not allowing them to control weekly church services that should be driven by the guidance and prompting of the Holy Spirit of God.

For example, we all have the Spirit living within us.  Perhaps we could have a round room of gatherers where each person who felt prompted by the Spirit to speak did so.  Or maybe we take some time training all the young men in the church to preach a message and then have five of them share differing messages from the Bible about the same subject.  Or maybe we all meet in the park and discuss the Bible with all those who pass bye telling them of the hope of salvation and the Love of an Adoring Father.  Then we could go back to the church and break some bread in thanks for the Good Works that had been done in the name of Christ remembering His sacrifice that brought us together in the first place.  The Work is “out there”.  The Church was meant to be a place that we meet to discuss the Work, seek God’s guidance about the Work and prepare for the next opportunity to “do the Work”.  None would argue that the Church has lost the power of the Spirit.  Perhaps it is because Christ is knocking at the door bidding us answer and ask Him back in.  Shouldn’t we answer?

Tears are hard to shed these days as almost daily our world is rocked with yet another soul-shocking, terrorist event.  Not just politically motivated episodes pent on making a dent or movement in some global agenda, but rather scenes set at local grocery, housing or shopping malls.  Snapshots of terrified children, stricken parents and officers in full battle regalia indelibly inked upon our retinas and encoded to our memories.  Gone are the days when only soldiers faced post traumatic stress disorder, it has now come to our neighborhoods and high schools.  Our sensitivity has been numbed, our receptors narrowed or shut down our innocence lost without recovery hope.

“One nation under God, indivisible, with Liberty and Justice for All”,  a statement which has nearly been forgotten for lack of understanding and infrequent use. Analyze this statement for American Identity and you will see patriots who knew those things which must never be lost.  We are in current circumstances because we have taken for granted those things which brought abundance, safety and peace to our doorstep.  The only solution is to return to what we had done at first and allow the Lord to cleanse our collective hearts of sin and corruption and the overwhelming burden of weighty conscience.

Our hearts harden in final transition to lumps of coal incapable of love, humility and care.  We cannot turn away from our present course even though we know this shall dash the ship upon the rocks because we are unwilling/incapable of turning the ship again to the hope of open seas.  We have abandoned the Lord and so He has allowed the hand of evil to sift us like wheat.  The birth pangs have begun.  There is a season for repentance and change, but only a time.  I ask You Father to save us if it is Your Will to do so.  Make all hearts reflect, soften and return to their true foundation in Christ.  Allow us to offer each other compassion born of the Love You have shown us.  In Christ’s name I pray.  Amen