I'd like to say that this particular blog entry will be a nice one, but it might not. It's actually going to be about the church and, my criticisms of the pastor's position. For a brief history, I grew up in the church and have done nearly everything I can remember there. I've been to kids camp, day camp, high school camp, junior high camp and whatever else camp; I'm not much of a camper as you can tell. The fact of the matter is, I am not. I hate camping; hotels are much more my bag, but that's not why I'm writing this entry. This morning, as I lay here in my bed, I thought about the church and most particularly, my father. He was a pastor at various times and a professor at Vanguard University. He pastored San Bernardino Community Church for 10 years and after that, pastored Newport Mesa Christian Center as they looked for new pastor and almost destroyed themselves, because of a couple of wolves in the flock. BUT, that's another story for another time.
My father also pastored various churches as a guest speaker and sometimes, we were pulled around to churches that didn't even speak English. In fact, some of them spoke languages I could not even recognize, much less understand. Needless to say, as a child, these were extremely boring churches to attend and I hated attending church anyway. I wanted to be out surfing, hanging out with my friends and doing things other than listening to sermons, singing hymns (I grew up on hymns, not the cool U2 music that is being played in churches regularly these days) and most of all, the dreaded church outfit which receives many "you're so handsome today" comments, but every child dreads wearing. Having to dress nice, act nice, and most of all -- not surf -- was torture to this child.
As an adult, I enjoy going to church, though still not that much. It still has to compete with other activities in my life I enjoy doing more; although, I love hanging out with my Christian friends. I like the fellowship, the accountability and now, more than when I was a child, I like the music. Most of all, church is a wonderful place to meet new people. I don't meet a good number of new people as most of the time, I sit in front of the computer and punch out words. In addition, eHarmony has not been the best place for me to meet people, nor the World of Warcraft an incredibly addictive videogame also called "Warcrack." And that is still yet, another conversation for another time. As for the subject at hand, something is still bugging me.
The church was established to be a beacon to the world; it is the home of Christ, but very often the building and its people have become just a part of the world and not the one lighthouse in it. Pastors, for example, are at their pulpits preaching the good news, right? Well, they CAN as long as they don't offend parishioners. Even my father was prey to this on occasion; don't worry; nothing bad thank God! And don't get me wrong! My father spoke the truth much better than any other pastor I know, but as with any pastor, he requires a paycheck and therefore cannot offend too many of the wrong churchgoers. Prophets, by contrast, spoke the truth and very often got beaten and even murdered for it. Much less, prophets never received a paycheck. What would the church be like these days if pastors spoke straight and truthful -- as truthful as prophets?
For one thing, they would be fired right and left; and for another, they would be respected a whole lot more. Just a thought, but maybe more pastors SHOULD be fired. I say this with the utmost respect for my father and every other honest pastor out there. After all, my father was the funniest and most entertaining pastor ever. :-)
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