Tuesday, June 15, 2010
Sunday, June 13, 2010
Caged
This morning my pastor encouraged us to pick up a copy of Mark Batterson’s book “Wild Goose Chase” and return in the evening for the beginning of a study on the Holy Spirit and so I bought the book and took it home to read.
Scott and I spent the better part of an hour reading the book. I felt the Spirit move in my heart as I was challenged to think outside the cage of church. I felt challenged. I couldn’t wait for the study to begin.
We arrived and quickly discovered that we were outnumbered. We were outnumbered by old people. It was Sunday evening at 5:30 and these faithful followers of Christ were reporting for duty. We saw one other couple in the crowd that perhaps was under 40. Undeterred, I got my book and journal out. The Spirit was going to move. I was sure of it.
But then something tragic happened.
The doors were shut. The cage closed.
The service started.
The music minister did what he was supposed to do. He led us in 3 songs and told two bad jokes. He encouraged us once to think about God as we sang and then prepared the crowd that at our next meeting we would be learning a new song. Change can be hard, I guess.
Then the minister in charge of teaching for the night got up.
I’m not sure he got the right book. He talked about time management skills and making priorities for things in life that are important. He talked about schedules and how to budget our time. He provided 4 copies of some self help book on controlling urgency in our lives.
My husband yawned.
That afternoon when we were reading we couldn’t stop. We talked about scripture. We prayed.
As I realized that the minister was nearing the end of his time, I felt sad. We missed it. Again, we missed it. I wanted to scream out that time management is the very antithesis of the Holy Spirit. I wanted to demand to know when we would stop setting for milk and cry out for the meat of scripture.
I realized that in many ways Batterson has it right.
Church can cage in Christians in the same ways that guilt, fear, failure, responsibility, and assumptions can.
I want out of the cage.
Scott and I spent the better part of an hour reading the book. I felt the Spirit move in my heart as I was challenged to think outside the cage of church. I felt challenged. I couldn’t wait for the study to begin.
We arrived and quickly discovered that we were outnumbered. We were outnumbered by old people. It was Sunday evening at 5:30 and these faithful followers of Christ were reporting for duty. We saw one other couple in the crowd that perhaps was under 40. Undeterred, I got my book and journal out. The Spirit was going to move. I was sure of it.
But then something tragic happened.
The doors were shut. The cage closed.
The service started.
The music minister did what he was supposed to do. He led us in 3 songs and told two bad jokes. He encouraged us once to think about God as we sang and then prepared the crowd that at our next meeting we would be learning a new song. Change can be hard, I guess.
Then the minister in charge of teaching for the night got up.
I’m not sure he got the right book. He talked about time management skills and making priorities for things in life that are important. He talked about schedules and how to budget our time. He provided 4 copies of some self help book on controlling urgency in our lives.
My husband yawned.
That afternoon when we were reading we couldn’t stop. We talked about scripture. We prayed.
As I realized that the minister was nearing the end of his time, I felt sad. We missed it. Again, we missed it. I wanted to scream out that time management is the very antithesis of the Holy Spirit. I wanted to demand to know when we would stop setting for milk and cry out for the meat of scripture.
I realized that in many ways Batterson has it right.
Church can cage in Christians in the same ways that guilt, fear, failure, responsibility, and assumptions can.
I want out of the cage.
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