Listening and living…

For a spiritual fix this week, my wife and I went along to the other new church again, after being at our regular one last week.

I often have a bunch of conflicting thoughts before going, and then a bunch of positive or otherwise thoughts after. Well, this week did feel the need to go along, as we are alternating and I was feeling fairly ‘spiritual’ by this point. Hey, we should be feeling spiritual and full of Grace all of the time right, but sometimes things just aren’t always just like that.

This new church is fairly big-not exactly like one of those America ‘Super/mega-churches’ but could aim to get like that. So it sort of felt a little like being at a music event or gig, except I usually go to see very loud rock bands and this was loud but with small children, babies and christian mainstream worship tunes.

Now remember, my thoughts and words here are from my own weird, male mind which also has many other things crowded around in there.

I’ve been ‘Born-again’ (Never sounds great does it?) for a good many years now, but many parts of regular church experience still are not totally amazing for me. Am I being stubborn? Am I holding back too much?

I try to feel real experience of faith and God, and be honest with myself and my own feelings. If a service does not move me, I not really going to pretend or just go along with it.

So today, the service was quite relaxed, started with the usual songs-I think it was Matt Redman or the other guy(…?) some quiet prayer time, more songs. Eventually after some meeting and chatting with others casually, there was a ‘sermon’ looking at Corinthians-the historical context, the geography of the place at the time of the gospels and a few funny parts added in from the speaker. this kind of thing I like and it is usually very interesting.

After this there were a couple more worship tunes of the same usual regular kind. All fine and good enough.

So then, my own thoughts did drift a little-yes, not intentional, I can usually focus and pay good attention-and I was considering how I might like church to be. What would a great, very relevant church be like? There are many churches around, and many have one or two parts which are really great but not always the whole. I think perhaps I would want more social work, social justice, possibly. Jesus would be on the streets, saying hello to all kinds of regular folk. Rich people, poor people, popular folk, unknowns.

I thought about how I support some charities and humanitarian organisations, and what that means to me.

I was thinking about worship-what worship is, what can be worship, what worship should be, or what some people think it should not be. I enjoy some forms of worship but not others-is that totally wrong? Does God prefer some forms of worship over others?

This makes this afternoon a time of contemplation, considering ways of knowing God, living like Christ in 2014, in the UK right now. What ways are right, what ways are best and what ways are my ways to worship? …