Pls share
Went to church yesterday to attend the first of a 2/3 day rally, not too sure. But anyway, just decided to go, hoping for something refreshing and enlightening, but was disappointed again. However, is not the first time that i am caught this struggle between respecting God's servant together with the presence of God and my own desire for new perspectives.
The issue being was that the sermon that the speaker gave yesterday was simply just interpreting a verse, elaborating on the verse and telling believers that they must do this and that. If the church see the need to invite a 'special' speaker to share,people who attend the rally definitely hope to bring home something 'special'. But to me, yester-night was just another mundane affair(parallel to Sun worships), except that it was less formal. If the church invites a speaker who can produce a similar sermon as what our pastor had say before, then why do we have to ask someone to come on a weeknight just to repeat the same stuff?
I compare this problem of repeating the same old stuff 24/7 with our mothers' constant nagging. During our adolescent years or even now, we are often annoyed by our mum's nagging, whether is it asking us to bath immeadiately after we JUST got home or to clean up our rooms, we often ask, "Where do they get all the gas to repeat repeat and repeat throughout the night?" From personal experience, i usually bo-chap all the nagging till my favourite tv show ends, i feel gross enough to wash up, then decide to give in to her patience.
This is just like sermons in our church, if sermons just get repeated and repeated every year after another, believers would just get bo-chap and uninterested. Coming to church on Sun would just be routined, with the mindset being, "Just another day when someone on the stage reminds(if blatant, nags). Nobody likes to be nagged at or reminded so many times. So they thought that special events that the church organised would give them something new, they came eagerly, but left disheartened. Eventually, they decide to come out of the production line and seek their own spiritual growth(gross enough to bath analogy!). They feel that the sermons fail to give them new perspectives from the same verse, they start to find places(new churches) where the can receive these new ideas, eventually leaving the church.
Human beings need to reminded, some more, some less. However, from my view, reminders should change/lessen as one matures. In the religion context, reminders can come from mentors/authors, bros and sis and the Holy Spirit. But over the years, the same old concepts just get repeated and repeated again, would believers get sick and tired of it? From my point of view, i would want to listen to new and different ideas from the same verse ie. different commentaries on the same topic, not the model answer! To me if we get speakers to offer repelling ideas, it would be very interesting and beneficial.
My dear church mates, pls share your views.
The issue being was that the sermon that the speaker gave yesterday was simply just interpreting a verse, elaborating on the verse and telling believers that they must do this and that. If the church see the need to invite a 'special' speaker to share,people who attend the rally definitely hope to bring home something 'special'. But to me, yester-night was just another mundane affair(parallel to Sun worships), except that it was less formal. If the church invites a speaker who can produce a similar sermon as what our pastor had say before, then why do we have to ask someone to come on a weeknight just to repeat the same stuff?
I compare this problem of repeating the same old stuff 24/7 with our mothers' constant nagging. During our adolescent years or even now, we are often annoyed by our mum's nagging, whether is it asking us to bath immeadiately after we JUST got home or to clean up our rooms, we often ask, "Where do they get all the gas to repeat repeat and repeat throughout the night?" From personal experience, i usually bo-chap all the nagging till my favourite tv show ends, i feel gross enough to wash up, then decide to give in to her patience.
This is just like sermons in our church, if sermons just get repeated and repeated every year after another, believers would just get bo-chap and uninterested. Coming to church on Sun would just be routined, with the mindset being, "Just another day when someone on the stage reminds(if blatant, nags). Nobody likes to be nagged at or reminded so many times. So they thought that special events that the church organised would give them something new, they came eagerly, but left disheartened. Eventually, they decide to come out of the production line and seek their own spiritual growth(gross enough to bath analogy!). They feel that the sermons fail to give them new perspectives from the same verse, they start to find places(new churches) where the can receive these new ideas, eventually leaving the church.
Human beings need to reminded, some more, some less. However, from my view, reminders should change/lessen as one matures. In the religion context, reminders can come from mentors/authors, bros and sis and the Holy Spirit. But over the years, the same old concepts just get repeated and repeated again, would believers get sick and tired of it? From my point of view, i would want to listen to new and different ideas from the same verse ie. different commentaries on the same topic, not the model answer! To me if we get speakers to offer repelling ideas, it would be very interesting and beneficial.
My dear church mates, pls share your views.
posted by InsatiableThirst at 11:57 AM
2 Comments:
it is difficult to look/view/hear/think things outside our own perspective.. that is why God want us to be humble... before Him and others, not only ourselves... (hee hee.. usually we say we are humble b4 someone great... so by being humble before self... it is like saying self is great leh.. hee hee)
different stages of life.. a youth just coming out from children stage is used to viewing things around him as new... that is how he learn... very easily, one may be led to think if something is not new, it is not worthy.
i must say i am of a age that appreciate reminder of simple truth put forth in a convincing manner and with conviction... and last nite session was one of such and i am thankful...
a servant attitute is not only physical presence but also a heart attitute to be open and to learn... when i hear the same truth again, i often reflect between this time and the last, how have i fare practising this truth.. this helps me to grow...
but yes... we must also recognise there are different meetings of different nature... some are more suited for one purpose.. we need a mix of attending some to learn new things, some to fellowship as a church a-x age-group, some to be reminded... and God knows when we need what...
however... one reason Y we are unsatisfied may be God's prompting for us to come forward to make the difference!!!
i think its quite unfair to compare sermons with our mothers' nagging. sure, its repetitve, but nagging is on a daily basis, its sth we dun wan to hear, and it juz irritates you.
sermons, on the other hand, are (if we're regular enough), a weekly thing. and then pops out special events such as pei ling hui, where a wkday is included.
there's just so much in the Bible that speakers can touch on and speak abt, so repetition is inevitable. and on another note, it cld be a reminder. people forget, tts human nature. so reminders like this are needed to wake us up from our slumber and do sth abt it.
tts my 2 cents worth. anw ive some comments abt today's (sat) sermon too. e speaker said tt only if we spread the Word will God be with us, and tt if we dont, God will not be with us. maybe he meant it another way, but i juz find tt thought disturbing. wad? if we dont spread the Word, then God wont listen to our prayers? He wont be with us during our interviews/exams/down period? its just misleading.
but ohwell. one cant please everyone. so i guess we just have to be silent and hear what God wants us to hear even if we're totally not interested.
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