Part Two

In a recent conversation with another minister, I mentioned a friend who asserted that she was closer to God before she went into ministry. My colleague responded, “that’s her problem; her responsibility. I have no sympathy for someone who is not nurturing their own spirituality.” On the surface, his answer made perfect sense, but it continued to nag at me. I’ve finally learned to pay attention to such gnawing and have decided I disagree wholeheartedly with my friend, who is currently not in the “plum” position of serving a congregation.

I realized I don’t know anyone—clergy or layperson—who has drawn closer to God as a result of experience in the church. Church tends to test faith rather than nurture it. Church is the place where we practice being very human, beset as we are by all kinds of conflict and power-plays. Church is a place for learning patience. It is a place where we can use or develop a variety of skills—communication, organization, fundraising, and money-management. All of that is lovely and does indeed build character. It is not what necessarily deepens our walk with God.

Most people I know who are bumping up against a certain level of spirituality find they must leave the church, at least for some time. They must leave the noise, the impossible demands and trite activity. They must learn how to live with God, be in God’s space rather than in their own. This can be a most trying circumstance, coming generally later in life, often during crisis. It generally requires a momentary release from “the race.”

Is this counter-intuitive, even an escape? The opposite is true: church life is the escape. There parishioners gather to discuss, argue, and recite theology—talk about God—effectively shutting God out. Ask any active church member about their life and conversation with God. You will likely receive a puzzled look. At best you may get a recitation about prayer life that is lifted from a devotional book—what talking to God is supposed to be like. Those who are really talking to God have no words for it; no easy description. The church, in contrast, is all about words, all about the busy-ness of faith.

Take these two holiday stories: First Baptist Church of Orlando recently had a televised production of their “human singing Christmas trees,” the latest in a line of holy Christian traditions. Because the people stand for so very long to achieve this sentimental menagerie, they have “tree monkeys,” people who go along unseen, massaging the legs of the singers during the show. This is the same church who hollers long and hard about homosexuality being unnatural. Does anyone else find this bizarre?

The second story is less amusing, but very much to-the-point. A music director told me he had to punch up the ending of “Joy to the World” for his church’s Christmas Eve worship service. It lacked a certain…something, which he achieved by adding, in his words, “a Disney-esque” finale. Perfect. Ready for worship. God will be even more pleased and the congregation will get goosebumps. I, however, am holding out for the inclusion of a big laser show.

Want to find God? Get out of the church.