I derailed last night. You see, when I come to church my desire is to worship God while surrounded by encouragement and others who want to grow closer to Him. I also want to see the Church working hand in hand to welcome others into the Body of Christ. For several weeks, we have been battling with the atmosphere of a desire to not focus on praising God, but just hang out, play around, eat, and gossip. That is fellowship, but with the desire to refuse to set aside our playtime to humble ourselves at God's feet and desire more of Him, that fellowship becomes negative worship, and the gossip takes the throne. I don't come to the church building to push God aside as if He is just a decoration while the world pushes its way in to taking over. As followers of Christ, we are set apart for something greater than what the world has to offer in all of its riches.
I finally uncapped last night and went off on a tangent that those who are attending church and desire nothing but to interrupt the flow of worship by yelling out that the whole thing is stupid and pointless, and vouching for their right to gossip about people they dislike, should get up and leave. I know that I would not purposefully participate in a program that offers nothing that I am interested in, especially if I'm not willing to give it a chance to see if there may be something about it that I may find an interest in, so I shouldn't expect others to be a part of something they absolutely refuse. Too often we tell people that our church has it all together and it's the only way to go, but we forget that our eyes are small, and there are millions of churches to choose from in the globe. My advice is to find a church that does not hinder your desire to draw closer to Christ, but is a family you want to be a part of. If you want nothing to do with church just from what you've heard about it, I ask that you at least give it a try, but if after trying it you find it to be torturous, don't stay around. The church has no intention of putting you through misery and torture. My hope is that we, as The Church, are a light of how welcoming and truly joyous being a part of it really is.
Don't get me wrong, I find great joy in having a party; Christians do know how to party, and they leave with no fear to others on the road of being too impaired to drive. I love singing, traveling, acting like I know how to hip-hop, and all-in-all just be completely random; I enjoy hanging out with friends without anything really planned. I also love to eat and try new foods! You can tell by some of the foods I describe in this blog, but also my adventures in fasting in my blog, http://40daysofplenty.blogspot.com/. But while all of this is great fellowship, it all means nothing without my time of praising God and being discipled with the Body of Christ; other Christians as The Church.
I'll even throw in a shameless plug for our church for anyone that happens upon this blog and wants to give church a try. I love people, and because of that, I won't leave anyone out of the opportunity to experience the true joy of worship that I feel when I am among friends, worshipping together in the house of the Lord. Here are some programs my church has to offer, but if you know of a church closer to where you are, or know of one that may be a better match for you, please don't hesitate to give it a try!
Parkview Church of the Nazarene
50 Long Acre Drive
Fairview Heights, Illinois 62208
(618) 234-5941
Main Programs
Sundays
9:30AM Sunday School
10:45AM Morning Worship (nursery provided)
11:15AM Children's Church
6:00PM Adult Bible Study
Wednesdays
5:30PM Supper with Kids
6:30PM Adult Bible Study
BREAKOUT Youth Programs (grades 7 - college age 23)
Sundays
9:30AM Sunday Skool Cluster
10:45AM Morning Worship
6:00PM L.A.F. (Lead And Follow)
Wednesdays
5:30PM Supper with Kids
6:30PM BREAKOUT Worship
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