Lifting the Fog
November 16th, 2008Clarification
Earlier today I wrote about my visit to a local church. It was an astounding experience. I wrote about it because I was shocked at the intensity of God’s presence in this place. But readers seem to have missed the point, thinking I was rejecting the church for putting on a glitzy show, complete with a fog machine.
Here is the message I was trying to convey. This is a wonderful and exceptional church, regardless of the unnecessary bells and whistles. I think only Mike and Og got it. Maybe I was unclear.
I’ve had a couple of divine visitations in my life, and they were more intense than what I experienced today. But those were very special and rare events. They weren’t something I could repeat at will. But now I find that I can get a pretty big piece of the same thing, by doing something as easy as going to church. It looks like I can get a big, healthy dose of the spirit just by taking a drive and sitting in a pew. To me, that is tremendous news. If I have to put up with artificial fog along the way, who cares? There are so many important things a pastor can be wrong about. I can live with questionable fog.
Many Christians believe that God’s power is most accessible where large numbers of faith-filled believers gather. They cite the story of the town where people had no faith, and Jesus could do no great miracles. I had that in mind today, as I felt myself ambushed and surrounded by the Holy Spirit. I realized this might be an especially good time to get off a few prayers about important issues. I think this, all by itself, is a good reason to go back to this church. Praying alone is great, but why pass up an opportunity to pray in the midst of a palpable cloud of God’s presence?
I can’t tell you how affected I was. At first, I hoped to introduce myself after the service and maybe talk to whoever welcomes visitors. But the experience I had was so profound, I hit the road as soon as we were dismissed. I wanted to be alone, as soon as possible, so I could think about what had happened.
There are a lot of reasons for choosing a church. The presence of God is pretty high on the list. I’d go to Taco Bell every Sunday, if God started showing up there. This may not be the church for me, but they are definitely doing something right.
The church is maybe three-fourths black, but the music seemed pretty white. I wish I had some music to offer. On the way home in the car, I started hearing the most beautiful song in my head. I still can’t transcribe music by ear; I hoped I would remember it. And of course, I did not. I need to see if I can get Sibelius working. Maybe I could write something worth publishing.
By the way, here is a story Rich Wilkerson mentioned in his sermon today. A bunch of vicious lesbian activists barged into a Michigan church and emptied buckets of condoms and glitter on the congregation, while shouting obscenities about Jesus. A lesbian couple stormed the pulpit, where they put on a necking display. In Sodom, gangs of gays tried to rape the angels. You have to wonder; given the repressed homosexual hostility which is being vented publicly these days, are we headed for a day when a dangerously large percentage of homosexuals feel that anything they do to the rest of us is justified? As their numbers increase, will we see behavior more like the cruel Sodom kind and less like the cute Queer Eye for the Straight Guy kind?
If you think the abuse of gays is bad now, wait until they start scaring people. Right now, “homophobia” is an unfortunate, silly, melodramatic misnomer. It could conceivably become more accurate.
November 16th, 2008 at 8:51 PM
I think most people would like to reccomend their churches- I would never do that. Go where you’re comfortable and you feel better after than before.
At the core of Christianity is Jesus’ message of love and redemption. As opposed to the message of Islam, where the core message is of hatred and intolerance. A real Christian is tolerant and loving of fellow sinners- and everyone is a sinner- where Muslims prefer to murder homosexuals. It would seem that the Gay community would be anxious to side with the people who want to protect them. Silly me.
if you go to a Christian church- a REAL christian church, and not a sham, and those are easy to spot- you will get more out than you put in. Good on you.
November 16th, 2008 at 9:37 PM
Looking back – I was unclear. The connection you get to God, and the opportunities to serve Him, are the major factors you should look to in choosing a church.
Music, facilities, etc. are nice ammenities. But they are window dressing and frosting. You can have a supremely great worship experience in a spartan setting (it may even be more likely than in a fancy setting).
Go back to this one – several times perhaps – and keep your focus on the worship experience and the church’s teaching. The primary purposes of the hour (or so) on Sunday is you worshiping God, and then comes the message from God to you.
This place could be the keeper.
November 17th, 2008 at 12:15 AM
Nov. 2, I attended the Church of the Nazarene around the corner, as it would be my polling place on the 4th, and it is around the corner. Very weird. Electric music and Powerpoint projectors. Most of the multimedia stuff annoyed me to the point of anger. We did sing one traditional hymn, and it made my eyes wet. Christianity was invented before electricity.
Oh, P.s. I could use your prayers if you would. Shoot me an email for my True Name and some details.
November 17th, 2008 at 1:22 AM
“Earlier today I wrote about my visit to a local church. It was an astounding experience. I wrote about it because I was shocked at the intensity of God’s presence in this place.”
I had the same experience when I visited the Catholic chapel in Old Town Albuquerque when I first moved here. Walking into the place (there were no services going on at the time), the spirituality was so intense, it was like getting smacked in the face. I had to sit in the pews for about 10 minutes to get my bearings back.
November 17th, 2008 at 8:51 AM
I suppose my comments on the previous post didn’t come across the way I had intended.
First, I think it’s terrific that you’ve enjoyed your experience at that church on a spiritual level. That’s the most important thing, regardless of the superfluous props or dramatics. Being moved in the way that you were is an amazing experience, and one that deserves a fair amount of reflection.
I just feel uneasy about mega churches in general, although some of them do terrific things for their congregants and communities. I’m of the opinion that props such as fog machines and other such multimedia displays contribute nothing but a facade to what the real point of a church is – the congregation joining together to give praise and receive inspiration.
Finding the right church can be a time consuming and frustrating process. I hope that you are able to find a church home quickly.
November 17th, 2008 at 8:57 AM
I don’t know if this place qualifies as a mega-church. Maybe it does. The service I attended probably held two to three hundred people, and it was the third service of the day. They’re on TV, but it’s local. I’m not sure whether they do any regular nationwide broadcasts. I think he has done TBN, but not everything on TBN is purely evil.
The choices down here are not great. I looked for churches near me, and they didn’t seem very appealing.
Incidentally, it turns out Rich Wilkerson is not a fan of Christian rock, so maybe he puts limits on what his musicians can do.
November 17th, 2008 at 9:18 AM
Good for you Steve, I have been a regular church goer for the last 20 years. Prior to that I was kind of off and on and now I think the difference for me is my involvement in small group scripture study. We have a men’s group that meets at 7:30 once a week and we take one verse of scripture and discuss what it means to us and how it applies to our lives today.
I have felt the presence of the Lord in both large and small churches but for me, growth in the Lord comes from a combination of worship service, small groups and personal time with study and prayer.
I guess my experience is kind of like climbing a mountain and whenever I think I might be getting close to the top I realize that I have just reached another ridge and the top is still a long way off, somtimes surrounded by fog.
Steve, I enjoy your sharing of your personal growth and it really helps me as I stumble along in my faith life.
November 17th, 2008 at 10:46 AM
Good luck.
Your’e a good guy and you’ll be where you need to be soon enough.
November 17th, 2008 at 11:59 AM
Just so you know, there are lots of us on the gay side of life who think that shock tactics have no place in a church. That said, I’m not all that surprised. You wouldn’t believe the internal pendulum swing when a guy or girl finally admits to being gay. There’s an enormous overcorrection, which leads to some rather blatant behavior. Fortunately, most of us pull out of that and achieve equilibrium. Unfortunately, a good many of us don’t. Which leads to the aforementioned stupidity.
November 17th, 2008 at 10:29 PM
So…I’ve been co-habitating with a person of the opposite sex. Why can’t I get on her benefits?
Is there a legal reason I can’t have the same rights as a gay person?
I really want to know, as it is important to us. Do hetero-sex couples have less standing than gays?
My job has no benefits; hers does. We live in South Florida. Are there different rules for straights and gays?
November 20th, 2008 at 4:53 AM
Hi I came over from a link at protein wisdom.
Wow,I just had more or less the same thing happen to me! My daughter(she’s nine) wanted me to take her to church with her friend.While I have always talked to her about God,I didn’t want to choose for her before she was old enough to understand what was going on.So we went.
i was raised Churh of the Brethern,and while it was a fairly moderate congregation( like others in these two threads have mentioned,you do always feel God’s presense in a church),and I always know that God is with me,I was overwhelmed that day with the joy of His presense there.i was in tears half the time. Like you I could not stay,but had to be alone to think.
Well,I hope that you have found your spirtual “home”,I think I have found mine,