Skip church and Be The Church

            “In a clever experiment published in 1973, John M. Darley and C. Daniel Batson found that seminary students on their way to take part in an experiment often walked right past a man slumped over and groaning in a doorway. Some of the subjects, ironically, had been asked to give a talk on the Biblical parable of the Good Samaritan, but they were no more likely to stop and help than others if they thought they were late. And no particular style of religiosity was related to the likelihood of helping the victim.”

This research should sicken us as Christians. Do I care more about my precious education than I do about the souls of the homeless? Do I care more about appointments and my job security than I do about the biblical imperative to care for the poor? Do I care so much about stability, church membership, and ascent to creed that my time would be lost on an ignorant drunkard? Be very careful how you walk. We should be more afraid of passing by our savior unaware than we are of the devil who roams about the city. The wicked one may destroy our body but The Father can destroy our souls in Hell’s heat. My faith is borne of the curiosity that one day if Christ wills it I will peer into a drunkards eyes and commune with my savior. He commanded us to wash feet. Skip church if it forces you to spend Sunday morning actively being The Church. What man can sit under the unfettered preaching of the Gospel and the administration of the Sacraments and not be gripped by conviction? What man can go about Sunday after Sunday sitting in our houses of worship and not weep for his unrepentant heart? What man can hear the Bible preached and not dance for joy as a prodigal that has now returned home? A Christian may spend days or even years this way but the will of the Father is never to remain in this unhealthy lethargy. Quit going to church and start living as a Christian! The worst sound in all the earth is a hymn sung by dead unrepentant sinners. Rise up men of God! Repent and serve the King of Kings by living as if you were dead. When we smell of cheap bourbon, hookers and death maybe then Sunday morning worship will mean something as we praise our Savior.

Rise up, O men of God!
Have done with lesser things.
Give heart and mind and soul and strength
To serve the King of kings.

Rise up, O men of God!
The kingdom tarries long.
Bring in the day of brotherhood
And end the night of wrong.

Rise up, O men of God!
The church for you doth wait,
Her strength unequal to her task;
Rise up and make her great!

Lift high the cross of Christ!
Tread where His feet have trod.
As brothers of the Son of Man,
Rise up, O men of God!