Ah, the holy moment. Sanctity, Beauty, Order
but sometimes God has no sense of propriety. Your pretty sure the preacher just used the word ‘crackwhore’ yet no-one has reacted… What do you do? Have they been slain in the spirit or had a stroke? Did that old Scottish guy just speak in tongues?
This part of the page is the epic struggle between the gentle guitar playing, contemplative silence and brushes on the cymbals with the drills outside, the stomach rumbling and the reject from the choir getting their own back by trying to harmonise…loudly.
Wonder 1
William Temple, an ex Archbishop of Canterbury, once described the church as “the only society on earth that exists for the benefit of non members”. Of course, there’s also the RSPCA but I think you get the sentiment.
We can be, when we’re on best behaviour, a pretty welcoming bunch which is great and I wouldn’t change it for the world but it does mean we end up with some of the real wacko’s coming through the doors.
A few months ago I was church hopping after moving to a new area and I went along to a church’s student meeting. Great worship, awesome teaching, all was going well until… group time.
Group time is when you suddenly realise that a good few of the people you’ve been singing and listening with for the last hour are a little bit nuts. My initial suspicion was roused when the nervous guy, who’d boldy tried to get the conversation about Romans going, was interrupted by a shout, a literal shout of “IS THAT WHAT YOU REALLY THINK?!”
The discussion goes on and Loud guy (who had been prophetic dancing in the worship, yes) feels that his group of new friends need to hear his confession. He begins with the line “This kind of thing is a little more difficult for me because my sin isn’t as obvious as others”.
I, at this point, am thinking “Please don’t tell us about your lust problem, please, not on the first night” but no… it got better… “My sin is Anger Problems… and Homicidal Tendencies”
I kid you not my friends. We had a wannabe murderer in the group.
The best part was the small group leaders who’d obviously been given a two minute crash course in counselling skills and up to this point had been leaning forward at all the right times and nodding enthusiastically and approvingly every time someone spoke. They both sat back in unison and everyone was silent for the next two minutes.
Until…
“So, Romans.”
