This isn't really about the Kingdom of God but in a way it is. How we behave on Sunday may look Christian, but what are we carrying in our hearts as we enter church?
I serve on my church's worship team. We have a young man who has been attending for awhile. He is a lovely young man with a heart to serve. He comes out of a church that makes God's love conditional...it is a church based on works. Works are just another way of saying, "You are not good enough in God's sight unless you do this, or this, mand this..."
That's not the Kingdom of God. The Kingdom of God invites you in with the idea that God loves you the way you are, but He wants the best for you and that means transformation--conforming to the image of His Son. That takes time, and needs to be under the direction of the Holy Spirit.
Think of a church as an ER. If a person comes in with a head wound, and is bleeding profusely, you wouldn't bar him from entering by saying, "Excuse me. You cannot come in here until you clean up all that blood. That is going to upset the people sitting in here."
Or a pregnant woman walks in, obviously in labor, and a nurse says, "Wait a minute. Where's your husband? What? You are not married? I am sorry. That goes against everything we stand for here. I must ask you to leave."
Yet, that is what we do in church. We expect people to act, look and behave as we do. Yet, in the ER, the doctors are there to direct the person back to health. It may takes years for the person to recover, but they must start somewhere, and there will be many visits to subsequent doctors, therapists and the person making good choices to effect that change to a healthier self.
See my point?
Once we start barring people, or putting pre-qualifications on them to enter our fellowship, why would they stay?
This young man plays on the worship team with me and several other people. He was wearing a baseball cap. I briefly thought of asking him to remove it, but the Holy Spirit said, "No. Don't make him think he has to do certain things to be here, like his previous church." Wow. I let it go, knowing that him being here is the most important thing. His family history is one of severe trauma, and he is with us because the Shepherd left us ninety-nine sheep and found this lost lamb.
Right after the first song, an older man stood up and yelled at us that the young man was being disrespectful to God by wearing that hat. Another woman chimed in.
We were stunned. Our worship leader/pastor responded with truth spoken in love: All are welcomed in our church and we are blessed by everyone being here.
The older man was so angry, he got up and left.
The other pastor, in tears, shared with us his sorrow. He was truly hurting for this young man, who was now shaking.
Both pastors expressed their love for all of us and how some of our people are holding on to anger, judgment and this was not acceptable. Our church is filled with older folks, and several of them have resisted change and are none too subtle in expressing it. It has dragged down the hearts of our pastors; they have tried to minister to everyone equally and yet there are those who expect the pastors to bend to their demands.
Our pastors exhorted the people to stop being, in effect, impediments to the Body of Christ with their attitudes. It was a powerful and much needed word from the Lord.
If you view wearing a hat in church disrespectful, then so is anger, judgement, lashing out and condemning someone. But those are hidden sins. We saw them in full force yesterday, but more often than not, they lurk below the surface, unseen yet undealt with.
They come out as the pastors listen once again to complaints about the music, or how they disapprove of x, y and z being done.
The Kingdom of God is the opposite. We pray for those we are angry at; we don't lash out; we don't come with our gift to the altar bearing anger or grudges and expect God to ignore all of that, because after all, those people deserve it! Right?
Wrong.
My prayer that this wounding of the Body yesterday will result in some introspection. Several people yesterday did seek reconciliation and were deeply concerned about what happened; once everyone left, and the Holy Spirit got to work, I pray all of us would listen and follow His instructions. He's the Great Physician, and wants us spiritually healthy. Sometimes He guides us subtly and other times, He lances the sin boil and it hurts. But healing usually cannot come any other way.
What kind of doctor would allow you to keep bleeding? But it hurts when the doctor intervenes, but out of that pain comes restoration to health, so the short-term pain is worth the long-term gain.
One more thing. Was that young man being disrespectful by wearing a hat in church?
Maybe in the 1950's. But then women were expected to wear hats and gloves. In synagogues, you always cover your head as a sign of respect. Men were expected to wear suits and ties. Women wore dresses. Sunday best, right?
But does Jesus expect us to wear your Sunday best? What if you don't have a Sunday best? Does that mean you are disappointing Jesus?
Or us?
Are people coming to church to honor us and our expectations? Or are they coming to seek Jesus, sit at His feet, and learn from Him?
Do we get in the way, wanting the people to look, sound and act like we do? If they don't, do we feel the right to correct them, not trusting the work of the Holy Spirit in their lives?
You may be thinking, "Hey! Wait a minute! Paul was very strict in his letters about behavior!"
Yes, true. But he made a distinction between principles and practices.
Principles are not tied into culture--they transcend culture. The Ten Commandments are an excellent example of principles: Honoring God, honoring your family, and honoring your community is essential for a stable community that allows its members to flourish.
But covering your head? Not covering your head? Paul addressed practices that some of his churches were engaged in and recommended against them in order to maintain the harmony within those churches. Love is the ultimate principle, and it guides our practices
So, yes, the practice of wearing hats in church showed respect at one time, but it is not a principle in Scripture. Our Christian culture is not tantamount to the Bible, no matter how fiercely we may see it as so.
The young man did witness one very important principle yesterday. Conflict can be resolved in a loving way. Sadly, the elderly man missed out on that. Despite our pastors' efforts to reconcile later in the day, and his rejection of their efforts, the older man missed out on what Christ's love can do with conflict. The young man, however, was surrounded with love. He watched our pastors speak lovingly and truthfully about people's attitudes that are not harmonious with the Body of Christ. So, that was a powerful lesson, despite its rather unpleasing beginning.
The Kingdom of God is just that: It requires we respect God and His Word, allow love to drive everything we do, and trust the Holy Spirit to work in us and to work in others, no matter how long it takes.
The Kingdom of Man speaks death, traditions and alienation to those who dwell there. The Kingdom of God speaks life, principles and community to those who dwell there.
The door is open to both kingdoms. We chose everyday which one we enter.
Lord, help us to choose Yours. But if we don't, help us to reconcile and seek forgiveness as soon as we can.
The world is watching and wondering: Are we a hospital or a prison?
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