Ok, so this won't be MY writings. But, I'm reading "The Dangerous Act of Worship" by Mark Labberton (along with some other books) right now, and I ran across this portion of the book that SHOOK ME TO THE CORE. I think it's a challenge to everyone that wears the name tag of "God Follower" or "Child of God". Read this and let it marinate within you for a little while.... this is for my Undone teens and adults alike!
" At a time when many are struck by the polarization between liberal and evangelical churches in America, it is more striking to see what the average congregations on both sides hold in common: they are asleep. Some seem asleep to God. Some seem asleep to the world. Some sleep on their right side, others on their left, but either way they are asleep. The way they sleep, the character of their dreams, the forms of their sleepwalking or sleep-talking varies. Varied, too, are the words and voices that cause restlessness, making their sleep less than tranquil: inclusivity. diversity. faithfulness. process. power. justice. relevance. recovery. healing. biblical. The words may stir the sleeping, but without enough urgency to demand awakening.
Too much sleep can lead to enervation and, in time, atrophy. A crisis hits - 9/11 or the Asian tsunami or Hurricane Katrina, say - and like waking from a deep sleep or shaken by a nightmare, our churches raise their heads and try to rise to the occasion (if they can figure out what it is!). Before long, the clamor of crisis quiets down, and our desire to return to the safe coziness of familiarity is too hard to resist. Wakefulness demands too much energy or strength that cannot be mustered or sustained.
Some Christians and some congregations seems to have selective wakefulness. After all, we are weary, overwhelmed, insecure, internally longing for hope of our own (never mind the need for hope in the world). We don't see much beyond the edges of our own bed, whether it is culture, economics, race, denomination or class. We know and like our bed. We have made it. We are not inclined to leave it. We are entitled to it after all, since we see it as God's blessing.
Meanwhile, those without a bed - and without a home, food, safety, water, warmth or knowledge of the Savior's love - are not seen or remembered or reached. In light of the stark reality of lost and dying humanity, forced prostitution, bonded slavery, malarial epidemics, HIV/AIDS and human life stripped of its dignity around the globe, where is the evidence that through worship our lives have actually been redefined and realigned with God's heart for justice in the world?"(emphasis: mine)
Holy cow... just think about that one for a little while!
