FROM OUR PASTOR
Tuesday, April 27, 2021
As we resume chapel worship, I wonder about the new people who will find us. The Pandemic and its turmoil have created soul-searching among many. Will they search for a church? Will we be their spiritual home?
Gordon Atkinson, a pastor from Texas, published “How to Find a Church” back in 2004. He suggests. . .
- You won’t find “that” church.
- Open the yellow pages. Tear out the entire church section and burn it. Offer prayers for your journey while warming yourself at the fire. Dance, if that’s your thing.
- Surely I don’t need to say anything about churches with preachers who have $200 haircuts.
- Find some people you can hang with – people you can trust. Be patient. You’ll change them and they’ll change you. You’ll meet somewhere in the middle.
- Don’t skimp on the coffee. Get the Good Stuff.
Atkinson is true and funny. But what if our shopping for the right church goes deeper? What if it’s a search for the “right” religious experience: “that” moment that will secure our belief in God? What church has the right music, preaching and architecture that reliably produce a religious euphoria?
The Book of Proverbs sees a different way to God – not extraordinary moments but ordinary, daily disciplines.
Extraordinary experiences? Or very ordinary disciplines? Can they both lead us to God? This Sunday we’ll answer that question.
