Frivolous and oblivious

Frivolous and oblivious.  That's how I'd describe what it looks like God is doing in this world when compared to what a lot of people think he is or ought to be doing.

When I read through the gospels (you know, the four different accounts of Jesus' life), he's on a mission for sure - but the mission is about connecting people with God.  And that's pretty much it.

I remember that one time in the stories where he's spent a lot of time healing people and throwing demons out of people and then, when there are still people wanting more of that, he says, "Nah, let's go."

And where does he go?  He keeps on going around telling people about this Kingdom that's coming and is actually already showing up.  He's building anticipation for a new thing - a new covenant, a new promise.

His biggest critique, and the only times he has a lot of conflict, is when the current religious establishment and its leaders don't like that he's hinting strongly that they are NOT necessarily representing God.

It's interesting to read through the stories.  Some people want him to fight back against the injustice of the Roman occupation.  Some want him to push back against certain religious groups.  Some want him to spend all his time healing or throwing out demons.  Some want him to argue theology with them.

Everyone wants a piece of Jesus. And usually a very specific piece. And that piece may not exist.

He wanted them to get a much bigger picture, not just their specific piece of ideological real estate.  And they didn't like that much.

Even his closest followers, his disciples and later "apostles", were divided among themselves about what was going on.  Even after his resurrection, they had their own ideas in mind about what should be next.

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It kind of seems like that still today.  Though we live in a time of complete forgiveness of sins and God actually living in us through the Spirit, we have a lot of people who want to direct attention elsewhere.

And I'm not against people who want to do good things - not at all.  Just sometimes wonder why so little attention is paid to what God has done and continues to do for us through Jesus.

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Occasionally, for entertainment and masochistic tendencies, I'll watch the broadcast/livestream/video of different religious groups, just to see all the different directions people go.

I understand that the purpose of each video or broadcast is or can be unique - for example, maybe teaching on marriage or on financial wisdom or such the like.  

But a lot of them are all over the place.  Like it's a three ring circus with evocative music, played to accentuate or punctuate what a speaker or preacher is saying.  Usually because what they're saying isn't something that would move a person unless there was some background music to tell you how to feel.

It's just silliness.  At least it is to me.  Even the more tightly wound groups I'm associated with have their fair share of disjointed, "what's going on?" things that are SO MUCH inside-baseball.

The songs, the messages, the asks for money or time - they're much better packaged than they used to be.  At least people have their Hollywood/Nashville down better than a few decades back.

And yet, compared to knowing and walking with Jesus, it all seems so frivolous and oblivious.  Like a lot of bubbly water.  Lots of attention getting, emotion directing moments with vague, ambiguous aims.

And almost every time I watch or listen to a service these days, the speaker, worship leader, or whoever sounds like they're in a hurry - they have to be moving quickly or they'll lose your attention.  

There's no free space.  There's no moments of quiet reflection.  Even those provided in a "church service" aren't good because you have the feeling/knowledge that you will be rudely interrupted again shortly.  Kind like when the eye doctor is doing the glaucoma test and you're waiting for that puff of air.

Frivolous and oblivious to so much of what Jesus was about.  Frivolous and oblivious to what Paul, Peter, and other New Testament writers talked about.  If pressed, they'd give you a connection and/or word salad explaining how what they're saying or doing hooks back to the gospel, but usually only when pressed.

It's mainly about a very specific kind of community, money, volunteer hours, and some flavor of the day thing that reflects a little something of what's going on in the world or on social media.

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I used to wonder what God thinks about what we do "in church".  

I used to wonder if he enjoyed the song we just sang to him.  Or the prayer that was just prayed to him.  Or the money he just got from us in that offering we just took up.  Or if he was spiritually high-fiving the words the preacher was saying.  Or if he was enjoying our quiet time having "communion", beating ourselves up in case we weren't "worthy" enough to take communion.

Now I don't think that at all.  Nor do I think God is sitting there saying, "Thank you for singing about how great I am" or anything like that.  

I believe we've put ourselves and our worship services "on the throne" and that we worship our worship services and our own specific, comfortable personal groups.  God may or may not be a part of any of that.

So, from a very different point of view, I now think that God is saying, "I'm right here with you all the time!  Stop talking to me like I'm hard of hearing or don't remember my name."  

He is glad, when we get together, that we are together for him and around him and because of him - and that's what he's excited about and wants.

Is he sure excited about "our church service"?  I don't know about that.  I think WE are, but have my doubts about his excitement about it.

What's he excited about?  Us.  Us being his.  Us being together.  Us being where he lives.  Us telling other people about what we have with him now.  

You know, frivolous and oblivious stuff that the world and even the religious world has little use for.

I'm looking forward to seeing more of this different he's showing me.

It is amazing and it truly is good news.

Grace and peace to you.