real_church missionary I find peace here every week. Hope and inspiration are revitalizing nutrients to many haggard spirits after just spending a week in the world. I love Sunday! I want to wear something... nice, something comfortable... my Sunday_best. I want to look nice. As we pull into the parking lot, I feel a tinge of excitement, almost giddiness, in my stomach. I've never had anything other than awesome experiences here. Today will be another one. Life is Good. Sure, I've been to dead_churches in the past. Anger. Legalism. Hypocrisy. Loveless, Joyless Pew_warmers go there out of religion and ritual, thinking they are doing God a service and a favor by showing up on Sunday! Thinking they are doing something worthy or good. They are wasting their time and everyone else's. Somehow though, that won't stop them from thinking they are better than everyone else! I've been there too, once, unfortunately. No, thank you. I'll stick to a Church where there's LIFE! Tangible LOVE! Residual JOY! TRUE CHRISTIANS! You see, these people weren't born into a perfect utopia. They've all had a past living life on the wild side. So they know where it leads, and they know they're overjoyed not to be on that road any longer. They also know that you've been there too. Maybe you're even there now. And they know the only one that saved them from themselves is the only one that can save you… God. I can see it in that glimmer of light in their eyes. It's Love. They love me... They may not even know my name but they greet me as if I were their best friend and only child. They reach out and try to know me… on purpose. Secretly, I know they are trying to find out if I need any help. Guess what? I do. But sometimes I don't let them help me… Why is that? I shouldn't deprive them of that joy. Why let my pride sabotage a perfectly good win-win situation? A bass guitar starts strumming. The deep, rhythmic reverberations pour down the hallway energizing everyone caught in their streams of sound. Conversations can wait… for now. The Worship is starting. As a child, this used to be the most agonizing part of dead church "service". "Oh no, not another song!" I'd think as I looked for something ELSE to fidget with. Everyone around me with expressions on their faces that looked as if they had just witnessed the 30 most depressing incidents of all time. Lip-synch - yawn - look at watch - turn to hymn # 347 - yawn - lip-synch. No wonder they were depressed. Today, this is gets me out of bed in the morning! The band simply ROCKS! The lyrics are intelligent and deep, moving and emotional, powerful and invigorating. The kinds of songs I used to wish they'd play on the radio. They never did. Not like this. But that's not why I love the Worship. It's not entertainment that I seek. It's loud and it sounds good. It's a song that can invoke the passion that I feel inside… Enough so that I can close my eyes, lean my head back, immerse myself in the sound and open my arms wide as if I'm drifting in this field of sonic energy… But that's not why I love the Worship. I love the Worship because I am standing in a room full of people who are focusing every thought, word and action on How AMAZING God Is! Such Admiration, Appreciation, Awe and Affection that many have tears streaming down their faces. We gather together, fill the room and concentrate our positive energy, sending it skyward. A sacrificial offering of praise that is sure to catch the attention of our Almighty Creator of Heaven and Earth. We know that we know that we know this pleases God… because shortly thereafter… God shows up! Shouts of Joy! Screaming Praises! Adrenaline? Sort of, only amplified by multiples of a thousand. A tingling, pulsating vibration consumes your physical body with each harmonized vocalization in song, while your mind is swimming in joyous melody with the chorus of others feeling exactly what you're feeling. And deep in your spirit, there it is. A Touch. A Word. A Healing. The Answer. The Question. The very thing that is all that you've ever needed is all that you've ever really wanted. And you feel it there… Inside you. Alive. Later, when Pastor speaks, I get out my favorite pen. A Zebra J-roller. Because I know this man has spent several hours of the last week in the Presence of the Being that just surged me with His invisible light. Whatever God told me just now… He told Pastor more. I don't want to miss any of it so I scrawl out pages of notes feverishly as I listen, rarely even pausing to look up. It's not that he's the most articulate, creative, or gifted speaker that I've ever heard. He's not. But he is Anointed. And God has the ability to use this man to speak solutions and enlightenment concerning things, personal things, into my life that ONLY God could know. Using the same scriptures from the same bible that we've read many times before, only this time they mean something entirely new to us. They were written thousands of years ago by people who couldn't possibly understand our modern, day-to-day functionality as a society. Yet there it is. The exact words I needed to hear at exactly the right time. Wow. Later, others would share how they had their own deeply personal, different than mine, very current, relevant needs met using the same verses to encourage specific solutions to the challenges they were facing. Now, there will be new challenges every day. We're not perfected. But we are improved. And if we keep walking that straight path in front of us, we'll just keep on improving. Learning. Growing. Individually and Corporately. Physically, Mentally and Spiritually. If something comes to attack our good mood, which it will, we don't have to let it derail us. If we fall down, make some choices that we're not too proud of, which we will, we just get right back up again and keep walking. If we start to have fear or doubt creep into our thoughts, which they might, we just weed them out and keep on growing. Because we know God. We can not deny Him. He's Touched us in a way that we can tangibly feel. And we know that He is Good. He has only the Best Intentions for us. We don't need anyone's approval to Recognize Him as Our God. We don't require anyone's acceptance to think like you think. We are The_Church. It means The Called Out Ones. We have seen and tasted what the World has to offer and were left wanting something more. I'm sorry if it offends some people… but we have found something more. Something better. Something so Alive that IS LIFE! And Nothing anyone could ever do will take that away from us. 041119 ... oldephebe Amen and Amen and Amen and Amen Amen! Seem like missionary might have the call of preaching upon his/her life. Looking forward to more of your posts ... 041119 ... smurfus rex where is this real_church? This post is much different than your previous apologetics...I'm sorry I thought you were Third Party Analysts. :) 041120 ... oE if we ascribe labels to everything, by attempting to place it into the pedantic interstices of codification will that rescusitate the dead thing in our chests? 041120 ... falling_alone in church this past sunday and found myself staring at the priest a bit detached while he prepared communion. it was the oddest sensation standing there, like being a part of some play amidst a chorus. the man's voice boomed from behind me faithfully praying a bit louder than the rest. his timing was off but i enjoyed that the most, i couldn't help but smile a little when he would finish before the rest. all the words washed over me, the monotonous drone except for that one man, and the priest's movements were fluid and graceful, i couldn't help but think how beautiful it all seemed. this mass that has been the longest running performance in history. 050117 ... The Message I was so blown away by the beautiful writing of missionary, that I almost didn't want to add to it, so that his/her work would truly shine. And disappointed that the author has not made appearance on blather for nearly 9 years so that I pay him/her this compliment. Bringing out this blathe might also attract those who want to call church an evil institution, or otherwise debate Christianity in general. That isn't my intention to convince anyone that a real_church is any better than a dead_church one may have attended, and therefore now follow a different path. I'd rather just praise God for gifting this author. And thank Him for the real_church I am blessed to be part of. It's hard to put into words, why I love this place. The pastor, the people, the music, the simplicity of the building's interior design, which feels very open and airy. Above all to hear God's Word filling my very soul with what I need to live in a place of intimacy with Christ. And a dash of humor to keep it relevant to contemporary life. There is so much to learn, so many ways to grow, friends to support on each other's journey. And ways to pray for and take action to serve those in need. Once again, praise God for my real_church! 131108 ... dafremen Long as one feels blessed without condemning others for not choosing those same blessings to focus on, there isn't a problem. 131108 what's it to you? who go blather from