plastictheology
The Voices of Sinners and Saints
jesusWe rarely get to hear our associate preach, but Dori is on vacation
for a while, so this morning it happened. On a parenthetical note, we
do not have A/C in our church, and it was hot. And it's also been
quite humid the past couple days. So add a high dewpoint, high temps,
and 350 people and you have a stuffy building even at 10:00 am --
thankfully, we forego Sunday school in the summer months so we can
have services earlier.
Anyway, I took my temperature gauge that I keep in our living room
just to see what the reading would be. The result? A cool 92
degrees. E was restless in the heat as were the children
scattered around the room, but I was feeling pretty good. Why?
Because I don't go to church to impress anyone...just a T-shirt,
shorts and flip-flops for me (and all the other sane men in the
sanctuary). It certainly doesn't win me any brownie points with
Jesus. By all accounts, I am stark naked in front of him. He sees
clear through me. (On a similar vein, I have in my possession
somewhere or another some great stuff on the futility of -- and sadly
the total warping of God's grace -- when Christians attempt to
superficially "dress up or look their best for Jesus"). Sunday best--
there's no such thing--it's a crock and a slap in the face of grace--I
wish people realized it. More than that, I wish those that espoused
this line of thinking would stop teaching it to impressionable minds
under the guise of being helpful. Of course, the back of my T-shirt
was soaking wet when we got up to leave, but that's nothing new. At
least I wasn't drenched from top to bottom as I noticed one young man
was a few Sundays ago at a church we were visting (this church --
First Congregational of Essex -- had no A/C either and was even hotter
there). The guy looked like he had been working construction all day
in Death Valley.
I will continue in another post since I hijacked my own topic. I'm
sorry. I just got a little over-heated. It stems from a blog I read a
few days ago of a seemingly intelligent pastor who was dogmatically
saying that as a Christian matures, he would want to start wearing his
best clothes to church. He also said that those who wore "less than
their best" were in rebellion. I think he was even preaching a few
sermons relating that junk to his congregation who doubtless respect
him and will believe him (he argues his point pretty well, but his
premise is inaccurate) who in turn will repeat it to the next
generation and so on and so on...
for a while, so this morning it happened. On a parenthetical note, we
do not have A/C in our church, and it was hot. And it's also been
quite humid the past couple days. So add a high dewpoint, high temps,
and 350 people and you have a stuffy building even at 10:00 am --
thankfully, we forego Sunday school in the summer months so we can
have services earlier.
Anyway, I took my temperature gauge that I keep in our living room
just to see what the reading would be. The result? A cool 92
degrees. E was restless in the heat as were the children
scattered around the room, but I was feeling pretty good. Why?
Because I don't go to church to impress anyone...just a T-shirt,
shorts and flip-flops for me (and all the other sane men in the
sanctuary). It certainly doesn't win me any brownie points with
Jesus. By all accounts, I am stark naked in front of him. He sees
clear through me. (On a similar vein, I have in my possession
somewhere or another some great stuff on the futility of -- and sadly
the total warping of God's grace -- when Christians attempt to
superficially "dress up or look their best for Jesus"). Sunday best--
there's no such thing--it's a crock and a slap in the face of grace--I
wish people realized it. More than that, I wish those that espoused
this line of thinking would stop teaching it to impressionable minds
under the guise of being helpful. Of course, the back of my T-shirt
was soaking wet when we got up to leave, but that's nothing new. At
least I wasn't drenched from top to bottom as I noticed one young man
was a few Sundays ago at a church we were visting (this church --
First Congregational of Essex -- had no A/C either and was even hotter
there). The guy looked like he had been working construction all day
in Death Valley.
I will continue in another post since I hijacked my own topic. I'm
sorry. I just got a little over-heated. It stems from a blog I read a
few days ago of a seemingly intelligent pastor who was dogmatically
saying that as a Christian matures, he would want to start wearing his
best clothes to church. He also said that those who wore "less than
their best" were in rebellion. I think he was even preaching a few
sermons relating that junk to his congregation who doubtless respect
him and will believe him (he argues his point pretty well, but his
premise is inaccurate) who in turn will repeat it to the next
generation and so on and so on...
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