FRIDAY, MARCH 24, 2023

 FRIDAY, MARCH 24, 2023 - SPIRITUAL THOUGHTS

Like so many things in life, churches and religious denominations compete with other churches and religious denominations.

If you have watched football games or other events, you might have heard the crowd “We’re Number One, We’re Number One”.

To me, that sounds about the same with churches.

Now there are some real reasons to be in competition with other churches - the main one is (groan) financial.

Churches need money <period>.  They have buildings, they have staff, they have administrative expenses (bulletins, hymnals), and they might have music, musical instruments, and musicians (organs traditionally, but guitars, amps, drum sets, and microphones also fit in).  

And, like many things - it comes down to (groan #2) entertainment.  Some of the bigger evangelical churches have video screens, production people, multiple cameras, online sites, and more.  A church I am familiar with (and have attended) has some quality singers (performers), and a solid band (no eighth-grade kids playing guitars and drums).  

You want people to leave the service saying “That was great.  I got a lot out of the service”.  I haven’t seen the curriculum for seminaries, but I anticipate some students get speaking, delivery, and stage presence classes.  (Is that ‘entertainment’?) 

So, to get more “butts in seats’, they advertise and compete with other churches for people and for revenue.  

But, competition may also mean touting your benefits and demeaning other churches or denominations.  I know of a group that regularly sends out a newsletter describing why their religious experience is better (more authentic, more spiritual, more in line with scripture) than other churches.  

Among protestant churches (and to a lesser degree Catholics), people “Church shop”.  I remember when our children were young that we “church shopped” for a local church that had a great children’s program.  You ask “Is pastor A a better speaker than pastor B?”  Some people (attending a local congregation where there might be more than one pastor that speaks), check the listing on which pastor is speaking next Sunday.  Is the pastor on vacation?  If so, we’re going to try the church down the block.  

John 17:22 says, “that they might be as one, as we are one”.  

1 John 2:7-11 adds, “Anyone who claims to be in the light but hates a brother or sister] is still in the darkness.  Anyone who loves their brother and sister[c] lives in the light, and there is nothing in them to make them stumble.  But anyone who hates a brother or sister is in the darkness and walks around in the darkness. They do not know where they are going, because the darkness has blinded them.

Garrison Keller from Prairie Home Companion had a story where two men met on a train.  As they get to know each other, they find out they both had the same basic church.  WOW - they can be friends - until they find out that one sings hymns of the 1952 hymnal and the other out of the 1976 hymnal.  They really are not in agreement.  

In the Baptist tradition, we find the following (from Wikipedia):

Free Will Baptist

National Association of Free Will Baptists

Original Free Will Baptists

United American Free Will Baptists

(There were over 100 groups listed as Baptist groups at: 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Baptist_denominations)

(Baptists tend to be the group with the most subgroups:  Lutherans have three main groups - ELCA - Evangelical Lutheran Church of America, Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod, and Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod)

Competition.

A friend suggests as a starting point for Christianity, is there general acceptance of the Nicene Creed:

The Nicene Creed

We believe in one God,
the Father, the Almighty,
maker of heaven and earth,
of all that is, seen and unseen.

We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ,
the only Son of God,
eternally begotten of the Father,
God from God, Light from Light,
true God from true God,
begotten, not made,
of one Being with the Father;
through him, all things were made.
For us and for our salvation
    he came down from heaven,
    was incarnate of the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary
    and became truly human.
    For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate;
    He suffered death and was buried.
    On the third day, he rose again
    in accordance with the Scriptures;
    he ascended into heaven
    and is seated at the right hand of the Father.
    He will come again in glory
    to judge the living and the dead,
    and his kingdom will have no end.

We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life,
who proceeds from the Father and the Son,
who with the Father and the Son
    is worshiped and glorified,
who has spoken through the prophets.
We believe in one holy catholic and apostolic church.
We acknowledge one baptism
    for the forgiveness of sins.
We look for the resurrection of the dead,
    and the life of the world to come. Amen.

That seems to be a common group for Christians.  What do you think?

LOVE WINS

LOVE TRANSFORMS

KAREN ANNE WHITE, ©, MARCH 24, 2023