I attend Southside Church of Christ in Little Rock, a predominantly black congregation right in the heart of southwest Little Rock. A big change from my normal context, so to speak. In the midst of this context change, I found something. In my last post, I talked about waking up zombies. I was a zombie. I was redundant in faith and couldn't escape the sinfulness of bland affection. That's where Southside comes in. On my first week, my heart of faith started beating again as I found not a congregation, but a family. Inside this family, there's intense joy and heartfelt devotion. I couldn't take a breath inside the door without a set of arms wrapping around me in love. I remember someone telling me "You come once, you're a visitor. You come again, you're family." How amazing is that. As I've been there now for nearly 5 months, I learned a lot of things about a completely different culture, a church culture.
In Luke 16:19-31, you can recall the story of the rich man and Lazarus. Lazarus had a life full of pain and suffering while the rich man had all the treasures he could find. But then the day came where it was time for the rich man to feel the hottest flames and Lazarus to get his reward. Specifically, in verse 26, it says "And besides all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed, so that those who want to pass from here to you cannot, nor can those from there pass to us." They were separated and neither could reach the other. It wasn't until I placed membership at Southside did I realize that there's a great gulf in our church today.
Racism. The single word that can make my blood boil and my stomach knot. I hate racism and everything that stands for it. You're not gonna hear everyone make racist remarks, but you can see the ugly snarls and discerning eyes of judgement every time a black person walks in the room. How disgusting. Since when did it matter what color people were? Short answer: it doesn't. Never has, never will. And let me make a call to you. If you think black people are so terrible, remember that I would rather be in a black congregation any day. You aren't as amazing as you think you are, so let me make you a humble pie and I'll cut you a slice or two. We are called to love, and unite. God will not be happy when he sees that you just couldn't look past skin tone.
In Southside, I see God-fearing people. I see active worship. I see the mission of God coming alive. I see a family that loves. I see communion that matters. I see brothers that help. I see prayers that work. I see faith that lives. I hear songs that mean something.
Please consider joining me. I wish to raise a generation of people who are color blind, not judging someone by what color, or ethnicity they are. What language they speak, or where they came from. Let's raise a generation that decides whether they like someone based on their person, and who they really are. This is what Christ sponsors. Won't you join me?
Sunday, August 16, 2015
Saturday, August 15, 2015
Out With the Old, In With the New! (Traditions!)
Yesterday, I left from Little Rock to start my journey to college. I started thinking to myself "There's probably a lot of stuff here that I could throw out or put away." And I started thinking about our religion, and what we could throw out or put away.
Traditions, everywhere. They're terrible. Somehow, over the course of the last 2,000 years, we have watered down the gospel, and concentrated on our evil, worldly, traditionalistic worship services. We go to church every Sunday, dragging our feet through the door, trying to keep our eyes open long enough to hear this long prayer, or keep my straying heart attentive to the preachers sermon. Oh, the joy that floods my souls when they announce dismissal. I couldn't possibly run any faster out of the door, and God forbid anyone want to visit with me or wants to fellowship. While that's bad, and I have more than a mouthful to say about these lazy pew-sitters, they aren't the full problem. The problem is that if you're in a position of leadership, you've allowed Jesus and His church to become boring. Yes, I said it. Jesus was never a boring guy, so why make a boring worship service? I hear you singing, and sometimes, I would rather hear the sounds of an animal shelter. People sing, they groan and mumble the words in the most silent voice they can, and they stand there as stiff as a rock with a nosferatu look on their faces. How in the world is that worshiping God any? The definition of worship is "the feeling or expression of reverence and adoration for a deity". How can you feel reverence or adoration through mumbles? I'll tell you what worship looks like in the church today. It looks like a whole bunch of dead people singing dead songs, with a dead sermon, that leads to a dead invitation. Let me ask you a question. If it's so dead, why don't you go and bury it?
So if you're asking what you can throw out to make the church the way Jesus actually wanted it to be, first throw out your zombie worship services. Next, get over yourselves. Class doesn't have to start at 9:30 on the dot. Worship doesn't have to begin at 10:30 on the dot. I've heard numerous people tell me "Well, the church needs structure and that's what structure looks like." That is a lie straight from the pits of hell. Jesus has never told us anything about meeting at a certain time of the day, and he sure as heck didn't authorize any structure apart from the structure he put down. I consider this adding to the scriptures. This is sinful, and we must veer away from that. I don't hate the church, please don't think so, but believe that we are going down a very bad road, and we need to get off of this road before it's too late. Do we really think that we have to worship in the same place every week? I guarantee if my brother is in need on a Sunday, I'm gonna go help him, and I'll conduct a service at his house. This is what the church is called to do.
Instead, we get so caught up on times, and location, that we get cynical; we get bitter. I pray constantly that my heart and your hearts aren't turned bitter in any way. I ask that you pray for God to show you how to wake up the dead in your church, and that you realize it isn't about you, it's all about God. God bless you.
Traditions, everywhere. They're terrible. Somehow, over the course of the last 2,000 years, we have watered down the gospel, and concentrated on our evil, worldly, traditionalistic worship services. We go to church every Sunday, dragging our feet through the door, trying to keep our eyes open long enough to hear this long prayer, or keep my straying heart attentive to the preachers sermon. Oh, the joy that floods my souls when they announce dismissal. I couldn't possibly run any faster out of the door, and God forbid anyone want to visit with me or wants to fellowship. While that's bad, and I have more than a mouthful to say about these lazy pew-sitters, they aren't the full problem. The problem is that if you're in a position of leadership, you've allowed Jesus and His church to become boring. Yes, I said it. Jesus was never a boring guy, so why make a boring worship service? I hear you singing, and sometimes, I would rather hear the sounds of an animal shelter. People sing, they groan and mumble the words in the most silent voice they can, and they stand there as stiff as a rock with a nosferatu look on their faces. How in the world is that worshiping God any? The definition of worship is "the feeling or expression of reverence and adoration for a deity". How can you feel reverence or adoration through mumbles? I'll tell you what worship looks like in the church today. It looks like a whole bunch of dead people singing dead songs, with a dead sermon, that leads to a dead invitation. Let me ask you a question. If it's so dead, why don't you go and bury it?
So if you're asking what you can throw out to make the church the way Jesus actually wanted it to be, first throw out your zombie worship services. Next, get over yourselves. Class doesn't have to start at 9:30 on the dot. Worship doesn't have to begin at 10:30 on the dot. I've heard numerous people tell me "Well, the church needs structure and that's what structure looks like." That is a lie straight from the pits of hell. Jesus has never told us anything about meeting at a certain time of the day, and he sure as heck didn't authorize any structure apart from the structure he put down. I consider this adding to the scriptures. This is sinful, and we must veer away from that. I don't hate the church, please don't think so, but believe that we are going down a very bad road, and we need to get off of this road before it's too late. Do we really think that we have to worship in the same place every week? I guarantee if my brother is in need on a Sunday, I'm gonna go help him, and I'll conduct a service at his house. This is what the church is called to do.
Instead, we get so caught up on times, and location, that we get cynical; we get bitter. I pray constantly that my heart and your hearts aren't turned bitter in any way. I ask that you pray for God to show you how to wake up the dead in your church, and that you realize it isn't about you, it's all about God. God bless you.
Wednesday, August 12, 2015
The Church is Full of Babies!
Hey everyone! As you may know, my name is Tracy McCann, and starting next week, I will be a freshman at Crowley's Ridge College in Paragould, Arkansas. I will be a bible major. I have been in the ministry for 5 years now, that would be since I was 12 years old, when I delivered my first sermon about Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego to the Redfield Church of Christ congregation. I wanted to create a blog to keep in touch with those I will be missing (and hopefully missing me) while I'm away at school. I pray that my thoughts stay pure and holy, and that the Spirit gives me the words to say online, so God bless you all.
I am naming my whole blog from the title of my first post, "The Church is Full of Babies!". I get my wording from the New Testament in 1 Corinthians 3:2 also Hebrews 5:12. I'm gonna focus on the Hebrews scripture. Look at verses 11 through 14 for the appropriate context. In this time, it's not that they didn't understand, it's that they didn't WANT to understand. Tell me that, church. If you don't want to understand God, why would you follow Him? Why would you follow something you don't want to work for? Our problem today in the church is we follow that feel-good gospel and rob Jesus of his miracles, while we neglect him when we feeling good. In the 1 Corinthians scripture, they are being called babies because of their division. HOW CAN THE CHURCH OF CHRIST READ VERSES ABOUT UNITY AMD STILL DENY THEM? Talk about some babies. Let me tell you, I drew a circle around my church building on a map, and each side of the circle marks a point 30 minutes away from our church, Southside Church of Christ. OVER 40 CHURCH OF CHRIST CONGREGATIONS, just in that circle. Talk about division, and talk about some babies. We can't even get together because we're too busy crying about what we don't like about them down the road. "We don't like them because they keep their building warm enough" "We don't like them because their preacher preaches 45 minutes" If you would stop worrying about your own agenda, and what your brother or sister may be doing, you may be able to eat solid food, but you're too busy whining about a part of the church that doesn't need work. Whine about yourself. You could be learning about the bible while you're busy whining about your brother taking too long to pass the communion tray.
To put this into a conclusion instead of nagging, where's God in your church? Does He make all your decisions? Do you have a leadership that doesn't listen to God? If not, you might as well set fire to your building and go somewhere else, because God won't put up with that. He didn't with the Israelites, and he SURE ain't gonna put up with your stuff. If your church of Christ is really a church of Self, can you really call yourself a Christian? God wants to give you meat and potatoes, but we must grow past some enfamil. Not every congregation is meant to be in one building, but at least fellowship with other congregations. That's what the Lord says, not me. God bless you, and I hope you found encouragement or the courage to ask for unity in your church. I'll continue this blog post on Friday.
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