Showtime

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Recently, over the past few months, my husband and I have been trying out a new church home. Lately, and for no reason that I am able to detect, I am just not satisfied with our current choice.

Are they unbiblical in their teachings…absolutely not. Are they cold and stagnant as a worship community…not that I can tell. Are the parishioners unfriendly and standoffish…definitely not the case. So what then?

As I sat in my women’s Bible study last night, thinking of anything except the study, I found myself wondering what my problem was. In short, what am I looking for?

Do I need a church home with a host of means and methods for preaching the Gospel? Do I desire a community that has plans and strategies in place for communicating an “entertaining” message and doing church with stimulation? Do I need a good performance from someone who can captivate the crowds?

Ironically, all of these characteristics define the church from whence I came and, even then, my needs were not being met. I think that at some point, the question must become not about what I want out of church, but what God wants me to receive.

Perhaps, in all of my fascination with the outside of worship I have neglected what’s most important. It could be that what was lacking in my performance driven, program-seeking mind was a desperation for the power of God. And now, now that the desperation is all I seem to feel, that which satisfied my need for entertainment no longer fits the bill.

Have I deceived myself? Have I mistaken the presence of my physical body in the crowd for the existence of spiritual life within my soul?

I dare ask, in regards to church services, what has become most important: The Spirit or the The Show?