The Perfect Church

"But the hour is coming, and is now here, when true worshipers will worship the Father in Spirit and truth; and indeed the Father seeks such people to worship him. God is Spirit, and those who worship him must worship in Spirit and truth." John 4:24

I remember when I was growing up in the Pentecostal and Charismatic churches, I would hear a pastor or "worship" leader tell us "Worship God on your own way." I did actually appreciate the sentiment of that although it isn't biblical. There is a certain freeing feeling when someone tells you that you can worship Him in your own way as a natural expression of who and what you are and of your love for God.

I just wish the Church actually practiced that.

I walked into an empty sanctuary just before a choir/worship team practice was about to begin. Not all of the singers had shown up yet. I caught a conversation between the sound guy and the eager apprentice he was training for the job.

He said something that I will never forget. He said "Not to sound conceited, but we want the sound to be perfect. That is your job back here. Sometimes the singers want to trail off into their worship zone and sing an off note. That is when you have to turn down the volume on that particular mic so it still sounds good for the worship environment.

Of course, dear reader, those who know me will know what impact such a comment had on me. I didn't say anything, I just walked away and laughed to myself, remembering WHY I so dearly missed the institution of what passes for organized church.

The mentality is that they don't want someone who is genuinely in a state of pouring their heart out to God in real, raw, passionate worship to be heard. Rather they want a perfect, smooth, flawless sound so as not to disturb other worshipers.

So this verse came to mind. "And those who worship Him must worship in spirit and in truth." And I began thinking that nothing about this arrangement or what was said is truth. It is a rehearsed, sterilized performance that I highly doubt God is amused by.

Truth is raw. Truth is spontaneous. Truth isn't rehearsed. Truth is the natural response to life and reality. In the context of worship, Truth is our first, instinctual reaction to God's presence. It is soulful, meaningful and that is what God considers beautiful.

The problem is, Truth isn't pretty and sterilized. It has bumps and warts and sometimes Truth sings off key. It is a bit grungy at times. Sometimes it has holes in its clothes, sometimes its voice cracks or sounds raspy. Sometimes it is hidden on the back shelf behind the other pretty things that stand out. Truth is plain, honest, and real, with nothing held back.

I have to say that I would love to sit in a church music service and hear someone trail off into meaningful real, soulful worship. It wouldn't distract me, it wouldn't put me off. In fact, I would ride that wave and follow it for awhile and join that sincere worshiper in his or her expression of uninhibited love to God.

I move on to another example. I am reminded of a story of a pastor who heads up a major church for the homeless and the misfits of society. Before he started his ministry, he decided that he was going to close down shop and become homeless for a year. He wouldn't reveal his identity or what he was doing. All he did was carry a home video camera to document his experiences.

It so happened that Joel Osteen was in his city one day and he wanted to go listen to the man preach. He was ratty and had his belongings in a backpack which he carried with him as he was homeless. He was immediately stopped at the door by a head usher and was lead to the back room where he was questioned and even accused of stealing church property (i.e. the video camera in his possession.) When he finally broke and told the church staff what he was doing, they let him go, but they escorted him to a seat.

While he was being escorted he heard the unmistakable order over the usher's radio which told the usher to escort him to a section of the auditorium where the camera wouldn't show as they didn't want him to be in the public eye.

Stories like the one I experienced and the story of this man floor me. Are we trying to look perfect and worship "perfect"? Or are we going for real and honest? Do we have to have a church face or can we be sincere?

I decided that Truth isn't perfect. I decided that I don't want perfect. I decided that I want human. I decided that I want real, I want flaws. Why? Because those things are Truth and Truth is how I want to worship and conduct my relationships with others.

This is the prison that keeps Christians enslaved and unwittingly turns them into hypocrites. It forces them to don a church mask every Sunday and then they show their true colors the rest of the week when not in church company.

I hear many pastors harp on how Christians are squeaky clean on Sunday and live like the world the rest of the week. And I agree. Where I disagree is that many such pastors will want the Christians to live like Church every day of the week.

I'm sorry, but it would be unbearable to live like that 24/7! I would have to be real sometimes. I say people should act like they do in the real world during Sunday church services. That would at least be honest and sincere.

I say act like the world in church, that way we can at least be up front and deal with the heart issues of sin and pain and woe in life. If we did this, hypocrites and wolves and pretentious self righteous ones would be quickly weeded out. All of a sudden we would know instantly the difference between the sheep and the goats. We would also know who is really hurting and needs prayer. We would also know the ones who are lonely and need a friend. We would know who is divorced and needs to go through the healing process. We would know who is homeless or about to lose their house so we could care for them. We would simply know. All doubt would be removed.

But alas, in the institution we call church these days there is no room for such things in the pews. We are afraid to let our humanness show. We are afraid to speak openly and frankly. Things like anger and a couple of swear words are horrific sins to be avoided. We have to suppress them because we want the world to think we are the perfect church! After all, we will ruin our "testimony" and damage our witness. But in doing this, we ruin something far more valuable, our very souls.