Several
years ago I was witness to the worst women’s retreat in the history of
Christendom. I was the minister of a
congregation that had a contingency of Twi-hards (women who were dedicated fans
of the Twilight books and movies). These
women decided that they would have a “women’s retreat” in which they would go
to a larger city near our town, go to a
late night showing of the latest release, spend the night at a motel and then
the next morning have devotions and communion as a group. Some went so far as to get “Team Edward” or
“Team Jacob” tee shirts for the occasion and with husbands and children left
behind the happy band of younger women left for their retreat. Everything went great except they forgot to
take a single Bible for the devotions or supplies for group communion. So, after sleeping in late they went to
Starbucks and shared a sweet roll instead of bread and coffee instead of
wine/grape juice and instead of studying the word of God they talked. To this day, all I can do is shake my head.
But
lest we castigate these women too harshly…
I recently attended a worship service with the whole congregation
present and for the communion meditation the speaker spent most of the time
talking about his workout routine and how tough it can be. He failed to read any scripture though he did
vaguely refer to a passage. He summed
things up by saying we should be glad that Jesus didn’t take the easy way
out. I am not convinced that squats are
as difficult as a crucifixion.
On
a different occasion, I heard a speaker espouse that God is a free market
capitalist because the parable of the talents teaches investing and having a
good ROI. It was more of a lesson on the advantages of free enterprise over
socialism, especially as it related to health care than service to God. I had no idea that Jesus would tell a story
to shape U.S. domestic policy 20 centuries later.
Then
there was the time the sermon was about “wrestling with ourselves”. The text was Romans 7:14-25 and the jest of
the sermon was that we are winners. In
the sermon I learned about the preacher’s numerous sports injuries and his
playing through these injuries, especially if he were playing against his
kids.
I
recently read Eric Metaxas’ book Martin Luther, which I highly recommend. The impact of the Reformation on the Western
church’s thought and culture is hard to over state. And it began as one monk, struggling with
God, began to pour over the Word of God.
In his passion to hear God’s word for himself, he discovered something
that was lost in his world and time. As
he poured over Scripture, God changed this man and the effects of that change
have not yet played out. It happened
without an expensive vampire retreat, political eisegeses, bragging about
physical fitness, or ministers wanting to relive their glory days in
sports. It happened because the Word of
God was the priority.
What
would happen if we returned to taking the Word of God seriously and as we
carefully study scripture we concluded with: “How should scripture change
me?” H.S.S.C.M. let’s not put that on silicon
wristband; let’s put that in our lives.
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