If God Were Dead Today

It is told that a certain sister with a forked tongue was a member of a church for 40 years. After the service she walked toward the minister. He was standing by the door greeting people. It was obvious she had something on her mind. She opened her mouth to complain and said, "Preacher, if God were alive today, he would be shocked at the changes in this church!" * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * "If God were alive today..." I reckon she meant to speak of Jesus still walking on the earth as he did in the first century. Still, I wonder if that isn't what some of us are thinking. We know Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow. He does not change. The truth does not change. I know that any time the term "I know" is used, postmoderns awaken in a confused state. However, I really do not think that anything we do within the confines of the "one-hour-a-week-worship-service" would surprise God at all. As if one could surprise God! God could, however, be dismayed at what we have done to our assembly. Do you think that Jesus, when proclaiming the coming Kingdom, ever envisioned a pew-filled cathedral where people would come and practice religion? I believe he knew about that kind of thing ... and he spoke out against it pretty strongly. My friend Steve has one of those "Religion Kills" t-shirts ... the kind with the fist holding the hand grenade. It is striking. It make me wince. But I know it is true. I just wonder how many Christians know that their religious acts are not the calling of Christianity? Patrick Mead is writing some heavy stuff about Christianity taking place away from the building. We need to hear that message. At some point along the way I adopted a belief that stated that if the worship service was pretty good, the rest of the church stuff would fall into place. I know now that the worship service will be a farce if our lights are snuffed out as we re-enter the 'real world'. I'd like to turn the statement around ... the one at the end of that urban legend I started this column with. How about this: "If God Were Dead Today, We Might Be Shocked That There Would Be No Changes In The Church." Does our existence depend upon a living God? If so, how is that demonstrated? If not, then what have we become?