The Sum of Several Wrongs

...Jeroboam and the whole assembly of Israel went to speak with Rehoboam. "Your father was a hard master," they said. "Lighten the harsh labor demands and heavy taxes that your father imposed on us. Then we will be your loyal subjects."

Rehoboam replied, "Give me three days to think this over. Then come back for my answer." So the people went away.

Then King Rehoboam discussed the matter with the older men who had counseled his father, Solomon. "What is your advice?" he asked. "How should I answer these people?"

The older counselors replied, "If you are willing to be a servant to these people today and give them a favorable answer, they will always be your loyal subjects."

But Rehoboam rejected the advice of the older men and instead asked the opinion of the young men who had grown up with him and were now his advisers.

1 Kings 12:3-8 (NLT)


It was this passage - out of context* - that made the most striking impression of all my morning's readings and I knew that I would contemplate the implications of Rehoboam’s choice for the rest of the day.

What I didn’t know was how perfectly the rest of the day’s material would be woven into the equation.

First, there was yet another article about the slow and ugly death of the church. Honestly, it was a fairly-portrayed and well-written article - that I just couldn’t finish.  Mainly, I just don’t relate.  My church is thriving and is, apparently, an exception to the rule. Not the only exception, thank God, as my friend (who posted the article) felt the same way about her church. But, especially as I wade further out into the new community, more and more I see the news of it.  The church must, in fact, be in decline. Yes, let’s say, "in decline."

I have my very own set of opinions about it all - apart from the actual, obvious faults and shortcomings of the church - somehow kind of tied into a "that which we manifest is before us" kind of way. But since that sentence didn’t even make sense, it’s obviously gonna take me some time to figure out just how to express those particular ideas. Let’s move on.

As my friend and I discussed this article, one of my final comments was "religion is crap." I’ve said it before.   Probably a lot, in fact, these last few years.  I’ve sought the short path to explanation for this but there is no such thing as short path in my world, apparently.


So maybe...

            Indoctrinated to Christianity as a child
+          experienced some seriously flawed church leadership as a youth
+          introduced to heavy metal music (and The Waitresses) as a teenager
+          discovered all that goes along with teenage rebellion, in fact
+          read some Tom Robbins as a young adult
+          my eventual, resultant dark ages
+          my eventual return, my recovery, my true discovery of God’s grace
=          an earnest desire to simply follow Jesus.  (yes, period.)



One of my friend’s closing comments was that her own church is surviving because they've had the good sense to shift their ministry focus toward the young folk - whereas her denomination, as she put it, is otherwise notorious for catering to the "oldsters."

(+)



* I am reading my Bible by a chronological plan that places the book of Ecclesiastes (in its entirety) between 1 Kings chapters 12 and 13. Coming back to this part of Israel’s history after so much vanity required a few minutes to review and reacquaint myself with the timeline. If you don’t have a Bible handy and would like to read this in context, click: Biblegateway.