Tear Down the Facades!

I had an interesting conversation with an old friend recently about American culture. I've never looked at it so holistically, but I have in parts. America's current day culture is based on presenting a false image. It's completely fake, like a movie set. We promote synthetic music from "artists" who can't sing, save help from a computer program. We search for new stars on TV when these people have never put in the work to earn it. The inevitable following train-wreck is hardly an isolated story.

New building developments are often covered by a facade that hides the real building, creating fake little communities of shopping centers. What we really need is to concern ourselves with the building behind. That's reality. That's where real life happens. Instead we are consumed with Dancing With the Stars, American Idol, and ESPN. That's our reality, a house based on shifting sand.

I think that's why our churches are empty. I believe that if people saw something real, they would run to it. Every Sunday we, like those buildings, put up the facade and put on the good show. We say the right things and sing the right songs. Our sanctuaries look just right. Unfortunately, that's all we have to offer. When someone leaves church on a Sunday, does it carry over to Monday? Church done right is God's people, doing God's works, out in the community.

When we pray for the broken on Sunday, what's next? Do the broken feel comfortable around us? They should... because we're ALL broken! We should be coming alongside the hurting and stick with them. We should be helping people foster their gifts. If you feel threatened by the exercising of someone else's gifts, then you had better check your motives. The church is no place for an exercise of power, unless it's God's power to heal and restore.

I've been in places where I've had ideas and had them swept under the rug. God has a plan for each of us, and we need to help people get in touch with this purpose instead of hinder them. This is why there are so many that claim to love God and hate The Church. This should be impossible, but we hate whatever looks different. If it doesn't match the facade of our perfect little church, we reject it. We ostracize those people.

It's time to get back to what's real. We must tear down the facades and allow things to operate outside of our comfort zones, so long as we don't endorse things that are contrary to scripture. We must change our ways before we lose an entire generation.