Nonsense and Sorrow

A missionary child, accustomed to meetings where the Lord moved, 

was attending some meetings with her parents,  who were on furlough.

  

After one meeting she said to her mother, " Mom, nothing happens here." 

The mother knew exactly what the child meant, but nevertheless asked, 

     "Don't they do the same things we do? 

          We stand up to sing; they do the same. 

               We clap; they do too.  

                    We raise our hands and so do they..."

  

"Yes," answered the girl, and not knowing how else to explain it, said, "but nothing is going on here."  

     And she was right:  

          the service had all the forms, but they were empty of reality. 

               A child, with a virgin spirit, knew it!

Things which don't make sense are ... nonsense
Nonsense produces something - it produces Sorrow.
If all earth's sorrows are first felt in heaven, so with this also.

I watched a video of a church meeting.

The video started with a clip of the "praise and worship show."
There was a young lady, questionably dressed,
     apparently unconscious of how she appeared
          and very conscious of who she was, 
               leading, bouncing and singing,
                    a "lite" music, with a "heavy" accompaniment.

The video then cut to the important visiting preacher.
     He started out with a hearty, jovial, greeting
          before entering into his "serious" message.

The whole thing was somewhat "fingernails on the chalkboard."

Did he not see the lightness on display in God's house?
(When does lightness become nonsense?)
     Did he not feel any need to address it?
          Was he afraid to challenge it?
               Did he think that he could build a message from God 
                    on the foundation laid out before him?
Or ... was it that he himself had never known the real thing,
to be able to discern that which was not real?

Things take on a life of their own,
spiritual declension starts almost imperceptibly,
and then grows and takes over.
     We start forgiving the slipping, and the sloppiness.
          We consider it a detail without much importance,

What is church all about?
     Does the God Who found Israel's offerings repulsive,
          not find our little games repulsive.

God is the "I am."
He Who "IS" ... 
     not any kind of make believe,
          not any kind of theater.

Church is where God seeks to meet with His people.
Church is where "I am" shows the "What is."

It is a place of deadly seriousness,
and total transparency.
A place where we can meet with God Himself.
A place where no flesh glories in His Presence.

Maybe we can't change the "church,"
and the flow of history.
But we can let God change our lives.

We can then come "in fear and trembling" (Phil. 2.12) 
     and having drunk from the unfailing Fountain of our salvation,
          praise, proclaim, and honor His Name,
               "in spirit and in truth." (Jn. 4.24)