I am not a Potted Plant

I feel like I should post a report on my latest visit to Meadowbrook Church.

Last week, I took my dad to church. I don’t know why he went, but the most obvious explanation is that he was bored. He jumps at any chance to get in the car. On the way out of the parking lot, he told me he didn’t believe what the preacher was saying, and he said people just buy into it because they’re scared.

Was he saying he rejected Christ, or just that he rejected the watery self-help message preached on that particular day? I didn’t ask. I let it drop. I don’t want to be the reason my dad comes out and announces that he rejects salvation. He prayed for salvation on September 22. Maybe he doesn’t remember. I want to let sleeping dogs lie.

This week, he surprised me by going with me again. I didn’t question it. I’m not going to push him to make ultimatums and declarations that will send him to hell.

When we arrived at the church, an usher handed us communion kits. These are tiny plastic cups. They have two seals. The lower seal holds the contents of the cup in. The upper seal holds a small cracker. I have seen many communion kits before, but I didn’t recognize these. The liquid inside was yellow, like olive oil. Communion requires red wine. Communion kits substitute grape juice, probably to avoid tempting alcoholics and upsetting parents with minor children.

I thought the liquid might be anointing oil, but eventually we were told we were going to have communion. I wondered if they were using white wine. They probably do that in California.

When communion time rolled around, Pastor Gilligan started telling us what it was about. I braced, because I fully expected him to get it wrong. I was not disappointed. He said something about togetherness, remembrance, and forgiveness. I didn’t really listen, once I knew he was on the wrong track.

I was not happy to hear him get it wrong. My dad was being misinformed, and a friend of mine was attending somewhere nearby, so she was hearing error, too.

The purpose of communion is to restore your relationship with Christ. We fall into corruption, and we need to confess and repent so we can be IN COMMUNION with Jesus. Here is what Paul said:

Wherefore whosoever shall eat this bread, and drink this cup of the Lord, unworthily, shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord.

But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup.

For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord’s body.

We all consort with spirits, and sometimes we fall in with the wrong ones. Iniquity grows on us like mold, and communion is supposed to help us shed it.

I have never heard a preacher mention the real purpose of communion while speaking to Christians in a church. It’s like they’re allergic to it. Perry Stone wrote a book about communion, and it may be that he explained the real purpose. I can’t recall, because it has been so long since I read it.

My last church did something remarkable. They used bread for communion. Not unleavened bread; plain old bread raised with yeast. Talk about missing the point.

In the Bible, bread represents flesh. Leaven represents pride and sin. It puffs things up and makes them look bigger than they really are. Before the flight from Egypt, God created the Passover tradition of using unleavened bread in order to prepare the Jews for his arrival as a sinless messiah. Jesus was flesh, but he had no sin, so he resembled unleavened bread.

Wine represents blood, and as we know, the blood of Jesus, who was murdered to save the rest of us, washes away our sins, iniquities, and diseases and allows us to become sons of God.

By using raised bread for communion, my former pastor put a picture of pride before the church. That was appropriate, because pride destroyed him, his church, and his family. It’s bizarre that he couldn’t see the problem with using raised bread.

Does using raised bread cause spiritual issues? I would be very surprised. I think you can do communion with no food or drink at all, so I suppose Wonder bread will work. The problem, to me, is the lack of knowledge. If you know Wonder bread is the wrong thing, but it’s what you have, no problem. If you don’t know it’s inappropriate, then you don’t understand communion, so how can you benefit from it? It’s not like dipping a sheep. Communion is like baptism. You have to understand it in order for it to work.

When we took communion, I discovered that the liquid in the cup was apple juice. I don’t get that at all. Grape juice isn’t going to turn anyone into an alcoholic. Why not use it? I wonder if the pastor understands the symbolic significance of wine and bread.

I used to take communion every day at home, and I should start up again. When I do it, I ask God to show me what’s wrong with me. What sins have I committed? What iniquities are opening doors to demons? I confess to him and repent. I ask to be forgive and delivered. It’s a remedy for spiritual adultery.

My friend took her three sons to church yesterday, and it worked out well. They loved it. Unfortunately, the church appears to have put a little too much emphasis on fun. I expected that, because they take a “Christianity Lite” approach with adults, too. They provided video games and foosball for the kids. I wouldn’t let video games anywhere near a church if it were up to me. Think of all the evil they do.

The positive side of the experience is that the boys will get to know Christians, and they will learn a few things about God. They might even get to know him personally, which is the real goal.

Here’s my take on the whole thing: we send kids to school, where they learn a lot of garbage. At home, we undo the harm. We tell them God is real, and that homosexuality is not okay. We tell them there is no such thing as a transgender person. We tell them socialism is evil. We like to criticize parents who count on schools to raise their children. If we take this approach to school, why aren’t we treating church the same way? Kids will learn good things and bad things at church, and it’s a parent’s responsibility to do the weeding. You’ll never find a human institution you can rely on completely, so do your best and correct the unavoidable damage.

A man is supposed to be the priest of his home. You can’t sit around and trust preachers to do your job. Where there is no father, someone else has to step up.

Maybe the key to being satisfied with your church is dividing responsibility correctly. If you don’t give your pastor authority he shouldn’t have, and if you take care of your own responsibilities, maybe your church’s problems won’t affect you badly.

I’m happier than ever with my decision to refrain from joining churches and volunteering. I put ignorant people in charge of my decisions, and then I complained about their leadership. I shouldn’t make that mistake again.

Maybe this will be helpful to someone who is trying to make a sick church into something it will never be. I certainly hope so.