[Faith-talk] the perfect church

[Sandra Streeter]

Spring boarding off the discussion of worship styles and fairly-recent changes to church liturgy and style, thought to ask: If you could have a perfect church, what would it be like? Just for fun.

Here’s my list:

-- A mix of traditional hymns and more-contemporary songs. At one time, I liked to hang out in churches that focused on the contemporary stuff, but, with my delving into poetry and using a Braille hymnal, starting about 10 years ago I have really gained an appreciation for the language of older hymns, so don’t want to lose those.

--Ministries to various disability groups, and inclusion not only in worship, but in areas of service. I won’t go into great detail, since that discussion—of the how-to’s and our wish lists for specific disability-related accommodations is already up-and-rolling. Sometimes, as we all know, we are an afterthought, and I just don’t think Christ intended that.

-- Minimal “inclusive language” in hymns, liturgy and Bible texts. Like many on this list, I have major problems when it appears that we are changing the “gender” of God in a misguided attempt to meet the needs of those who, say, were abused by a certain gender of human being; and, I don’t take offense if you use the word “mankind”. There’s a really cool book called “Man as Male and Female” that articulates my thinking very well (and helped shape it when I attended a Christian liberal arts college). But I also think that some of the recent changes, while not offensive ideologically to me, do mess with the quality of poetry you’d see in the older texts and hymnals.

-- A mix of ages and  races.

-- Services available other than Sundays, so that people who have to work on Sundays have an opportunity to worship, serve and grow.

-- No over-emphasis on money.

-- Teaching that is very down-to-earth without compromising the essentials. Don’t like shouty teaching, or application-only teaching that isn’t Bible-based.

-- Acceptance of women pastors.

-- A welcoming atmosphere for LGBT people without, again, compromising on doctrinal stands. It’s very easy to find a way-far-left congregation that goes even so far as having LGBT pastors, for instance—or, a very-right-leaning  one that, while always ranting about anti-LGBT rhetoric, won’t let an LGBT person close enough to be loved and maybe healed enough not to engage in certain behaviors or be bound by certain attitudes. In part, isn’t the church a “hospital for sick people”? And “let him who is without sin...”.

-- While occasionally referencing abortion and homosexuality, not making those out to be the most-egregious sins. “All have sinned and fallen short...” I personally think the church will be judged for its negative attitude toward those two groups.

-- A wide variety of ministry areas. I’d like to see (maybe even start) groups for eating disorders and for autism, two areas not typically addressed within churches.


Of course, the more my list gets refined, the less-neatly I fit into any local congregation!
So far, “that’s all she wrote”. I should transfer this into a Word doc so that I can add to it as things occur to me.




Sandra

Not “Revelation” – tis – that waits
But our unfurnished eyes –
(Emily Dickinson)

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