Church: Instant Circle of Friends for the Socially Inept?

I've been doing some thinking lately about how American Christians "do" church and how it's different from the way it all started 2000 years ago.  There are some that would say that the problem is that we have the overhead of the building or pay for pastor's salaries when Christ is supposed to be the head, etc., etc.  Now this may be so in some ways.  There's a function in one of my husband's desktop publishing programs (I think one of the music ones) that has a "snap to" function that can be turned on so that where ever you place a note, it "snaps to" the closest valid position for a note.  There's a similar function in windows when arranging your desktop.  You can push things around and have the setting on that causes the icons to "snap to" a nice,  neat little spot on the page that makes all your icons line up in neat little rows.  (Though according to my husband, you should have your desktop cleaned up to the point where you don't have enough on the desktop to actually make rows!)

The people of God are the same way really.  God intervenes to get them out of the pattern of the world, and it isn't long before we've "snapped to" the pattern of the world.  One of the biggest patterns of the world that the church has taken on in America is the tendency to pander to the wealthy, the successful, the popular... those who really have it together.  I'm not going to go into the details of how it's done differently, but the evidence is there.  It seems that the church is attracting the respectable more than not and I'm pretty sure those that fill the pews may look a lot like the religious establishment of Jesus' day.  I'm not questioning the faith of anyone in particular or saying that you can't have money and have faith in Jesus.  But Jesus did say it was incredibly difficult.  If it's such a rare and difficult thing to get a rich man into heaven (and yes, most who read this are "rich" or you wouldn't be sitting there on a personal computer in your own home) then why do so many fill the pews in America.  Jesus couldn't give away his message for free when he was on this earth.  Is it the very same message that is actually producing bestseller books and millionaire preachers?

So it comes down to what I've been convicted of personally regarding this.   I grew up attending a Lutheran Congregation (not Missouri Synod, but the very Midwestern conservative LCA.) in Dallas Texas, therefore gained few friends through church that I saw at school during the week.  There was a total of one person my age that attended, and she went to a different school in the district.  So then I came to U.T.  Some people I met in my dorm brought me to a Campus Crusade for Christ meeting.  I thought I had entered heaven.  Not because I had entered the presence of God, but because 2/3 of the  members were also members of Sororities and Fraternities on campus.  I was NOT popular in high school.  I now thank the Lord I wasn't.  But back then (or maybe still?), I was still hungry to be noticed by the beautiful people, and here was a room FULL of them and they were all being nice to me.

Now these may have been genuine Christians who really did have the love of Christ for me, but overall--let's admit it-- they had to be nice.  Everyone knows that you're not allowed to prefer the rich over the poor in church.  So even if we don't want to, we'll be nice to those we don't like, and we'll be especially nice to those we feel really uncomfortable around.  But we'll usually only let them so close.

Does anyone watch the show Community?  Jack Black guest stars as a member of their Spanish class who was so beneath notice that no one knew he'd been in their class all this time.  He plops himself into the middle of their study group and starts acting like a member of their "crowd".  No one wants to be the one to admit that they want to kick this guy out.  They don't want to be the mean one.  But ultimately, he gets dragged out kicking and screaming.  But it could have gone another way.  They could have let him stay, out of fear of being the bad guy, and never really let him in either.

I think there's a lot of that in the church now.  The "rejects" of this world come to the Church because it promises something different, and seems to deliver at first.  But they still end up on the margins of an organization that is supposed to favor the poor, the despised the down and out.  But isn't it partly the fault of those coming in for acceptance too?  If we are really following Jesus (and not those people we long to be accepted by) shouldn't we be searching for someone more needy than ourselves to reach out to?  James reprimanded those he wrote to in the New Testament for (this is a paraphrase) "seeking the favor of the very ones who treat you so badly".  I have been guilty of that for years, to be honest.  But these people weren't "dragging me into court", so my error wasn't quite as obvious.  But they were keeping me at arm's length.  They have been for years, but I've been in denial.  The test is, if I stop making effort, will the relationship's still continue?  If I don't show up, will anyone call?  Or will they be relieved.  I know this sounds pathetic, but it's been my reality.  I'm not having a pity part (at all).  I'm just stating facts.

So I'm going to start rejoicing in the special favor I have in my Lord's eyes in my "low position" (see James, chapter 1) and start calling on some people that are actually glad to hear from me!