Churchy Thoughts: Beyond Sunday Morning Sermons

Lately--make that for almost 10 years--I have been visiting and revisiting the matter of church in my mind.  I will say straightaway that (a.) I am a lifelong Methodist and (b.) I am no theologian nor have I hashed through third, fourth, and fifth level doctrinal issues and (c.) I believe that going to church on Sunday is very important beyond what is said from the pulpit. 

Moreover, I continue to independently seek truth through reading the Scriptures firsthand, but there is no practical way to discard years of pastoral input and have a fresh and truly uninfluenced opinion.  In my naiveté , I used to think things came down to two camps: Christians and Non-Christians.  Now I realize that folks are a-campin' out every which way- Fundamentalists, Prosperity Gospel, Evangelicals, Post-Evangelicals, Charismatics, Relevants, Reconstructionists, Revisionists.....need I go on? 



I grew up and married in this beautiful Methodist church, built in 1890.

It's a lot for me to wrap my mind around.

Sometimes, I gotta go back and simplify it all.  I know the Gospel.  I believe that Jesus Christ is the son of God who died for my sins.  I am well aware of my brokenness and my need for a Savior.  I believe that I am saved by grace through faith. I read my Bible, go to church each week, discuss God with my kids every single day. 

But when I attend the service on Sunday morning, it sometimes feels limiting.  I hunger to be fed.  This doesn't always happen through the particular pastor preaching that day and/or through my chosen worship setting (traditional, contemporary, blended, what should I pick off the church menu?)  Sometimes I am distracted (my emergency nursery number flashes on the sanctuary screen), sometimes I am exhausted (getting five children into dress clothes, plus me), sometimes we are super late (see prior parenthesis), sometimes the message is esoteric or the preacher's just not feelin' it or, most often, my heart is not focused and ready to listen as 9:30am rolls around.

But, goodness gracious, I could use a Word.  God knows how badly.

Thankfully, the use of modern technology is completely changing how I view "church."  I currently have three church apps loaded on my phone--one from Montana (Levi Lusko/Fresh Life), one from Texas (Matt Chandler/Village Church), and one from North Carolina (Steven Furtick/Elevation).  (And lest you think by this list that I've given over completely to the young, funky crowd, I also enjoy Tim Keller, Andy Stanley, and Bill Hybels, just not on an app yet.)  I regularly listen to sermons from these particular pastors when I'm driving around town, taking a morning run, folding laundry.  And it has been just what I needed, meeting me right where I am, when I can pay the fullest attention, digest what is said, reflect on how it applies to my life, replay it in the really good parts, and pause it to change a diaper or two.

I am not a unilateral fan of technology, but access to sermons outside of the Sunday morning routine and perspectives from pastors well beyond Tallahassee have been a game changer for me.  And not one of them are Methodist, I should note.  And that's okay with me, because this decade of questioning church has led me to a few basic observations:

1) The most religiously wise sects of Jesus's day, those who knew Judaism inside and out, missed the very person that scripture prophesized over and over would come, so their intricate knowledge of doctrine and laws by their "denominations" did not keep them from being blind to the Most Important Thing, and

2)  When Jesus was talking with Peter, who he was hand-picking at that moment to found the future church, he didn't give a long interview with nitpicky questions like "Peter, do you believe in infant baptism? Do you agree with predestination?  Okay, what are your thoughts on celibacy, birth control, and divorce?  Was the world was created in 6 literal or figurative days?" 

No, he simply asked one thing: "Do you love me?" (John 21)

So I'm embracing the fact that God can and will use a wide variety of wise, well-respected preachers who he has anointed to teach in order to feed me along this spiritual journey.  And this crazy busy, sometimes distracted, often tired yet well-intentioned wife, mom, and Methodist is thankful.


Do you regularly use a church app that you can recommend? Leave a comment and I'll be sure to check it out.