Finding a Church, Making a Statement of Faith
I wrote this response some time ago to another blog. Recently, my failures as a parent began to bother me. I was looking for some evidence that I have made a statement of faith to my sons and to my wife. Our household is without a church family. A friend of mine, a true believing Christian, also refuses to attend a Church because of politics and money.
When I ran across this, it was an indication that I have made a statement of faith and I would like to repeat it on this blog so that all might see and understand. The original topic matter was about struggling with the church politics, including national and local politics. My response was as follows:
The first thing that you should do is develop a relationship with God. That comes from reading and prayer. Prayer is not the thing that you recite from rote, like a table prayer or the Lord’s Prayer or the prayers that you learned at home or in Sunday School. A true prayer is a dialog that comes from the heart. You can praise, thank, wonder, and question; God will listen and He provides answers. Sometimes, you will find that He answers directly.
God wants you to develop a personal relationship, one of faith. That is the mark of a child of God, not how many times you go to Church or how many Hail Marys that you might say.
In Jesus’ day, he was dogged by the religious too. They were called the Pharisees and the Sadducees. They thought they had it going on, the perverbial hotline to heaven. They had all kinds of rules, laws, and acted superior to others. It turns out, as Jesus taught, they were far from what God wanted.
The parallel to the Pharisees today is the religious right. They unfortunately developed because their desires were continually being trampled by those that wanted power and wanted to live their lives in an alternate style. Those that developed this religious right struck back by showing the “righteousness of the law” instead of the love that they were shown and asked to spread.
It is one thing to set a code and to live by it; it is another to judge others and think yourself superior. In every church, it seems that there is a group of Pharisees there to destroy it. The best way to combat that is to do exactly what Jesus taught, “Love your Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and mind, and love your neighbor as yourself.”
The path to heaven does not always need to include a Church, but a Church and its good people do become a place to learn and grow and a support to you. A relationship with them can become a part of a relationship with God. Find yourself some place where the politics, either national, local, or internal are few. Find a place with some genuine people and not the guys that want to control the local church council or the world according to George Bush. The acts of men that think of power may only disappoint you. The acts of selfless people of faith can amaze you.
Please know that people of the Churches within this country have done more for New Orleans and Biloxi than any government agency or any other body of people.Finding that place, a Church, that is right might take a while to find, but the journey can be a good one. In the meantime, work on yourself. Read and pray. You may be amazed at the goodness that comes from you and the wisdom that you attain.
I wrote this response some time ago to another blog. Recently, my failures as a parent began to bother me. I was looking for some evidence that I have made a statement of faith to my sons and to my wife. Our household is without a church family. A friend of mine, a true believing Christian, also refuses to attend a Church because of politics and money.
When I ran across this, it was an indication that I have made a statement of faith and I would like to repeat it on this blog so that all might see and understand. The original topic matter was about struggling with the church politics, including national and local politics. My response was as follows:
The first thing that you should do is develop a relationship with God. That comes from reading and prayer. Prayer is not the thing that you recite from rote, like a table prayer or the Lord’s Prayer or the prayers that you learned at home or in Sunday School. A true prayer is a dialog that comes from the heart. You can praise, thank, wonder, and question; God will listen and He provides answers. Sometimes, you will find that He answers directly.
God wants you to develop a personal relationship, one of faith. That is the mark of a child of God, not how many times you go to Church or how many Hail Marys that you might say.
In Jesus’ day, he was dogged by the religious too. They were called the Pharisees and the Sadducees. They thought they had it going on, the perverbial hotline to heaven. They had all kinds of rules, laws, and acted superior to others. It turns out, as Jesus taught, they were far from what God wanted.
The parallel to the Pharisees today is the religious right. They unfortunately developed because their desires were continually being trampled by those that wanted power and wanted to live their lives in an alternate style. Those that developed this religious right struck back by showing the “righteousness of the law” instead of the love that they were shown and asked to spread.
It is one thing to set a code and to live by it; it is another to judge others and think yourself superior. In every church, it seems that there is a group of Pharisees there to destroy it. The best way to combat that is to do exactly what Jesus taught, “Love your Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and mind, and love your neighbor as yourself.”
The path to heaven does not always need to include a Church, but a Church and its good people do become a place to learn and grow and a support to you. A relationship with them can become a part of a relationship with God. Find yourself some place where the politics, either national, local, or internal are few. Find a place with some genuine people and not the guys that want to control the local church council or the world according to George Bush. The acts of men that think of power may only disappoint you. The acts of selfless people of faith can amaze you.
Please know that people of the Churches within this country have done more for New Orleans and Biloxi than any government agency or any other body of people.Finding that place, a Church, that is right might take a while to find, but the journey can be a good one. In the meantime, work on yourself. Read and pray. You may be amazed at the goodness that comes from you and the wisdom that you attain.
posted by Tom Rucktenwald at 10:01 PM
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