I truly enjoy the courses that I'm taking this semester. One of my favorites is a class that discusses the role of the pastor. Believe me when I tell you that there should be an A/V booth in the back of the classroom selling Cd's of the lectures. Good stuff! It's always a thrilling experience because either my classmates or professor is sure to say something profound on a weekly basis. This week's "words of wisdom" came in the form of a testimony from a classmate who had just returned from a mission trip to Guiana. She shared how the Christians there had such a pure passion for God that they would worship for hours in the dark (due to the lack of electricity) and with bats & bugs flying through the loosely constructed building. The pastor of the local church had to leave home on Fridays to travel on foot, by boat and by taxi to the church on the banks of the river. The parishioners would literally travel by boat through piranha infested waters to worship God together. Talk about dedication!
As I listened to her experience with the worshipers in the wilderness I couldn't help but wonder what in the world we're doing here. Here... where we often complain about having to stay in church for more than an A & B selection and an entertaining message. Here... where we fuss about sound systems, room temperatures and dress codes. Here...where we don't want to travel through traffic to worship together even though the other drivers on the road probably wouldn't try to bite us if we got out of our cars at the wrong time (Although, I can only speak for Memphis). But really, what are we doing here? Are we truly following Christ? Are we truly attempting to get people to see how amazing and awesome He is and how He deserves our undivided attention? Are we more focused on becoming the Church than convincing people to start coming to our church. I honestly don't know; or maybe just don't want to admit the answer. The truth is that we can all learn something from the worshipers in the wilderness and while we pray for them in our prayer vigils and on our missions trips perhaps God is moving on their hearts to pray for us as well.
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