As I mentioned in a previous post, I was raised in a church that didn’t observe most of the Church calendar. In high school, I remember seeing a friend at school with ashes on her forehead one Ash Wednesday. I thought it was weird that she had a dirty forehead. When other people asked her about it, she explained that at her church, ashes are put on people’s foreheads to commemorate the beginning of Lent.
I knew that people “give up things” for Lent, but I never really understood why. Most of the people I knew growing up who observed Lent didn’t really observe much else about Christianity. (I remember one year, a girl in my class announced to a small group around her that she was giving up wearing underwear for Lent.)
I attended an interdenominational Christian college, where I became friends with some Catholics and Anglicans. These friends passionately observed the Church calendar and everything else that comes along with following Christ. Through those friendships, I learned to respect other Christian traditions, like observing Ash Wednesday and Lent. But I still didn’t have a good grasp on why these traditions were observed.
To help combat our ignorance about the traditional Church calendar, my husband and I went to an Ash Wednesday service today at a church down the road from where we live. Before we went, I googled to make sure it was okay to receive the ashes if we weren’t a member of the church. (It was.) So as we approached the church, I felt nervous. What if you were supposed to do something upon receiving the ashes, and I made a fool of myself for not doing it? Should I wear the ashes all day – even to my very Protestant church later tonight? What would people think? Would everyone at work think I was a Catholic? Would people at my own church feel offended that I attended a *gasp* Catholic church?
As the questions popped into my mind, I decided that, in spite of my nervousness, I was going to go through with it. I would receive the ashes, and I would wear them for the entire day.
In college, the Lord laid it on my heart to work toward reconciliation between fractured denominations. As a Christian growing up in a contemporary Protestant church, I experienced judgmentalism on both sides of the table. Friends at my church spoke condescendingly about Christians who were “too traditional” to have an authentic relationship with God. On the other side of the divide, friends at school who came from traditional church backgrounds would speak condescendingly of Christians like me, who came from “weird, emotional, self-centered” backgrounds. They claimed that we turned worship of God into a frivolous party rather than a sacred reverence.
In college, God stretched me by bringing relationships into my life with Christians of all sorts of backgrounds. Through studying the Bible and theology, I felt convicted about my own attitude toward Christians who worshiped differently than I did. I started to think that maybe Christians on both sides of the table had something worthwhile to offer each other. Sometimes we, as human beings, can be too rigid in our worship of God. But sometimes we can be too frivolous, forgetting what a glorious, awesome God we serve. God is a friend to us, but He is also a holy fire. Reconciliation and fellowship between different denominations helps us all to hold that tension of worshiping God for who He really is, not for who we want Him to be.
Tonight when I attend my contemporary Protestant church with ashes on my forehead, my prayer is that this visual reminder would be received for what it is – a reminder that we are all sinners saved by the death and resurrection of Jesus. I pray that we would be more quick to love and embrace one another in Christ than we are to argue over traditions, calendar days, and styles of worship.
I may not understand or embrace all aspects of every denomination. But I want my heart to be soft enough that I can find the common points we agree on and build bridges of fellowship. May these ashes play a small part in bringing reconciliation, and may they be a reminder today of my need for Jesus.
What about you? Did you grow up in a traditional church or a contemporary church? Have you noticed judgmentalism between Christians of different denominations? Have you ever passed judgment on those who are different from you, like I did with my high school friend when she came to school with ashes? Will you observe Lent this year? If so, what does Lent mean to you?
Race is a loaded topic, isn’t it? I have to admit, this has been one of the more difficult blog posts for me to write. Race is a topic that’s easily swept under the rug. There are too many bad memories in our collective human history, too many racial injustices that are still happening around the globe. It’s easier to pretend those things aren’t happening, but as Martin Luther King said, “Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.” Injustice matters to God, and as His children, it should matter to us.
I’m Caucasian, of mixed European descent, and grew up in a small Midwestern town of mostly white people. Before I went to college, I thought the existence of Martin Luther King Jr Day and the passage of the Civil Rights Act meant that racism was defeated. I couldn’t imagine racial discrimination happening in today’s world.
I attended a college that was still predominantly white, but more diverse than my hometown. Through meeting people of many different races, I learned that racism still exists. All of my friends were able to tell me stories of being discriminated against, of feeling inferior because they weren’t white. I also learned about systemic racism, about the root causes behind why so many non-white races are still segregated in poor parts of inner cities. I began to take notice of how many affluent neighborhoods near my college consisted of almost all white people and how poorer neighborhoods in our nearby city consisted of almost all black people.
During college, I joined a multiethnic choir that sang exclusively black gospel music. Through that experience, I learned a lot about the African American community that I hadn’t encountered before. Every year, we sang at a Martin Luther King Jr Day celebration. While our classmates and roommates enjoyed a day off, we spent hours rehearsing, singing, and listening to speeches about racial reconciliation. At the time, I didn’t realize the impact of those events. To me, it was just another task in my busy life. Now that I am out of school, I am so grateful for the way God used those times to change my worldview.
When my husband and I were looking for a new church to join together, I told him that one of my primary concerns was to find a church that was multiethnic and multicultural. I had grown up in and attended too many churches that did not properly reflect the diversity of the body of Christ, and my experiences in college made it impossible for me to imagine attending a segregated church in our diverse area. Thanks be to God, we have found a great church with excellent preaching, caring leaders, and a diverse community. It reminds me quite a bit of the churches highlighted in this video from the 700 Club:
While we are making progress as a Church in racial reconciliation, there is still much work to be done. There are still many stereotypes that rage around the world about people of all colors, nationalities, and religions. As followers of Christ, we should be at the forefront of loving anyone and everyone, no matter how different they may seem to us.
Join with me in praying this prayer from our new book, A Time for Prayer:
LORD, we live in a diverse country with blends of many cultures, faiths, and values. I pray that the power of your Holy Spirit would move among us and tear down the barriers that divide us. May You breathe upon us and instill in us a desire for unity and agreement through a spirit of mutual respect and brotherly love. Forgive us for any discrimination or cynicism or cruelty or superior attitudes we may have harbored in our hearts. I ask You to help my own heart to be free to bring peace to others, to work together with others who don’t share my perspective, and to make a difference in the world. Help me, Father, to be a force for unity. Amen.
As we celebrate a new year, I’ve been thinking about newness. New life, new birth. One of my friends recently wrote on her Facebook page that birthdays are great – they make you feel so popular for one day of the year! It’s true, birthdays do make you feel special. They’re an opportunity to celebrate uniquely, wonderful you and the life that you’ve lived.
Those of us in Christ have the overwhelming privilege of being able to celebrate two birthdays – the day we were born to our mothers and the day we were born again into the family of God. For some of us, our second birthdays happened early on, perhaps only a few years apart from our first birthdays. For others, it was a long, hard road to get to our second birthdays, and we are grateful for God’s grace leading us along the way, even when we ignored it, scoffed at it, or hated it.
Take a moment today to think about your second birthday. As the new year begins, remember the day your new life in Christ began. Was it a difficult day? Did you cry? Did you feel peace? Did you know how much it would change you?
For me, the day of my second birthday was the week before I started high school. I had been raised in the church, and I had given my heart to Jesus as a small child. But when I was old enough to start thinking critically, I wondered if my blind faith in Christianity was sincere or if it was simply the product of my family and my culture. As a young adolescent, I decided I didn’t really believe in God. I was still forced to go to church, and I tried to make the best of it by hanging out with my friends in youth group. But I resented church, and I couldn’t wait until I was old enough to choose not to go to church anymore.
The day of my second birthday, I was at youth group. Several of my friends from school were there – friends who came to church off and on, but really weren’t into religious stuff any more than I was. They would sing the worship songs during service, and they would listen to the pastor preach his sermon, but they never responded to altar calls, and they never participated much in small group discussions. I knew they didn’t think church was very cool, beyond getting free food, playing fun games, and hanging out with friends. In spite of the presence of these friends at youth group that week, at the end of the worship set, when the pastor gave an altar call and asked anyone who “needed something more from God” to come up and receive prayer, I felt compelled to go up to the front of the room. From what I remember, there was nothing particularly wrong in my life that day. I wasn’t sad, I wasn’t looking for something. I just felt inexplicably drawn to respond to the invitation to come forward.
I stood nervously at the front of the room as the pastor and a few other leaders began praying over the other kids at the altar. When they got to me, the pastor said, “God just told me He is going to show you something you’ve never seen before.” My internal panic button went on. What did I get myself into?? I thought. I wasn’t entirely sure that I wanted to see something I had never seen before. What did that mean? Was I going to have a weird out of body experience or start running around the room, embarrassing myself? My thoughts drifted to my friends from school who were sitting a few feet behind me. I wondered what they would think.
I knew in that moment that I had a clear choice. I could harden my heart, as I had done so many times in the past and reject whatever this “something” was that God wanted to show me. I would retain my dignity in front of my friends. I would be safe. But on the other hand, nothing would change. My life would go on exactly the same, and I would never know what it was God wanted to show me. What if it was something good? The same courage that compelled me to go up to the altar in the first place that night enabled me to choose to receive whatever God wanted to show me. I took a deep breath, cleared my mind of doubt and worry, and let the pastor pray for me.
As he and the others prayed, a wonderful thing happened. It wasn’t physical, it wasn’t embarrassing, and I can’t even fully explain it. All I can say is that before that prayer, I wasn’t sure God existed. It was convenient for me to act like He did when I was at church around people who expected me to act that way. But in my heart, I wasn’t sure. And if He did exist, His existence didn’t mean much in my life. After that prayer, I knew more than anything I had ever known that God existed, and I knew that it mattered. It wasn’t as if I had a huge theological debate with myself and came out believing that God is love, that He sent His Son to save me from my sins, and that if I made Jesus Lord of my life, I would be saved eternally. I don’t think I actually formed those thoughts, and yet during that time of prayer at the altar, I knew they were true.
After we finished praying, tears were streaming down my face, and I went to the restroom to clean up. I remember staring at myself in the mirror and thinking, This is it. Everything changes. Everything is different now. God is real. For the first time, I wasn’t telling myself those things to try and work up some convincing faith to make the people around me happy. Instead, I was just acknowledging the truth. I went back into youth group and sat down, amazed that life was carrying on as usual. People around me were laughing, talking, acting as if everything was the same. How can they just sit here when God is REAL? I wondered. I felt like the outside world should reflect the dramatic shift inside of me.
Eventually I was able to get back to existing in the real world, but from that day, the day of my second birthday, I have carried with me the knowledge that God exists, that He loves me, and that He demonstrated that love through sending His Son to save me. I won’t say I haven’t wrestled with God and questioned certain aspects of my faith. But I have never since questioned His existence and His love. I am so grateful that God showed me “something I had never seen before.” I am grateful for new life in Christ, and I am looking forward to experiencing the new year ahead with Him!
Today, we’d like to offer an incentive for you to share the story of your second birthday with us. Email us your testimony of coming to faith in Christ. We’ll select a story to share on our blog, and if we select your story to publish, we’ll send you a free book. Even if your second birthday happened as a young child, tell us about your early family and church experiences and how they led you to put your faith in Christ. Every new birth in Christ is an exciting story to rejoice over, so no matter what your story is, we’d love to hear it! Please get your stories sent in no later than Friday, January 15. You can send them to inspiredfaithangel@gmail.com. Happy writing!
For some Christians, plugging in at a local church is a breeze. Perhaps their family has been attending a certain church for generations. They are well-known and loved in the church family. They are fed nourishing truths of God and have ample opportunity to serve others. Other Christians came to know Christ in the context of a great church and have never needed to look for fellowship anywhere else. From the moment they entered the building, they were embraced by the local body of Christ.
For some of us, though, finding and staying committed to a local church has been a great challenge in our faith life. We know that we’re called to meet together (Hebrews 10:24-25), but it just hasn’t been easy for us. Maybe we’ve been committed to a local church, but experienced terrible hurt or betrayal that left us with a bitter taste for local church involvement. Or maybe we have such high standards for the ideal local church that we’ve searched and searched for “just the right place” only to come up empty. After years of searching and feeling that nothing fits, perhaps we’ve grown weary and decided to settle for the fellowship of informal gatherings with Christian friends and participation in large, distant communities of faith like Inspired Faith.
As a mediator of online faith community, I certainly don’t want to give the impression that Inspired Faith is nothing more than a cheap substitute for involvement in a local church. I know how powerfully God can communicate through daily devotions, Facebook notes, tweets, and blog posts. Surrounding ourselves with life-giving truths of God is important in all dimensions of our lives. If we’re going to be online, we need to make sure that some of our online content is driving us toward a deeper relationship with God. There are times in our lives when we feel alone, afraid, or depressed, and having online inspiration instantly accessible is key to hearing God’s word in those situations.
That being said, I wouldn’t be honestly sharing God’s word with you if I didn’t highlight the importance of being part of a local community of believers. We see beautiful examples of believers living in community throughout the book of Acts, and we have a specific directive in Hebrews to not give up meeting together, “as some are in the habit of doing.”
Maybe you’re finding yourself in that place where sleeping in on Sunday mornings has become a habit. Maybe you’re finding it near impossible to drag yourself to a church on Wednesday or Thursday or Saturday night. There are so many competing demands in life, and let’s face it–dealing with the imperfections inevitable in any local church may not seem worth the trouble.
But engaging in a local body of believers is essential to our spiritual growth for many reasons. As I already mentioned, it’s worth doing first and foremost because it’s an act of obedience to the Lord. But I think there are some practical reasons why the writer of Hebrews directs us to meet together regularly.
Being a part of a local church provides us with opportunities to serve in our communities.
It forces us to take one or two days out of each week to be around other believers, to worship God, to hear His word preached, and to be reminded to fix our eyes on what is unseen in much of our daily lives.
Even conflicts and shortcomings in local churches are opportunity for our growth in Christ. Remember, churches are full of broken, sinful people being formed into the image of Christ. It might seem like some leaders or church members are beyond redemption. But maybe, God is calling you to reach them. Even if you can’t change their minds or soften their hearts, as a member of a church, you always have authority to intercede on behalf of your church and ask God to bring healing and spiritual fruit to even the most bitter situations.
“Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.” James 1:2-4 TNIV
Being committed to a local church is not easy, but it is one of the best places for God to grow us through trials. As we persevere in prayer, in love, and in service we become mature and complete in Christ. Let us not give up meeting together!
Have you faced trials and discouragement being part of a local church? Have you gone through periods of spiritual isolation, when it was easier to go it alone than to be engaged in a church body? How has God used your involvement in a local church to mature you?
birthdays are great – they make you feel so popular for one day of the year! It’s true, birthdays do make you feel special. They’re an opportunity to celebrate uniquely, wonderful you and the life that you’ve lived.
