Solo or Choir?

Inexplicably, yesterday morning shortly after awakening I began thinking of an incident that happened years ago in a church I was attending. It was quite unremarkable, really. I happened to notice in the service a visiting family of unbelievers. Their faces looked trouble. It seemed apparent they had come seeking help. It was not a given they were there to surrender their lives to Christ, but they did seem like they were searching. Right behind them sat two young-adult age young men. They had been raised in the church, their fathers both in leadership there. They both claimed to be Christians. Yet, I watched as throughout the whole service they paid no attention to what was going on from the platform. Neither did they did participate in the worship. The whole service they talked to one another, joked and goofed. I could tell it was distracting the unbelievers seated inches in front of them. Yet, the two young men seemed oblivious to the impact they were having on the unbelievers and, in reality, the whole service. My reaction was not so much an alarm at their inattentive talking, nor even at the distraction they were being to the seekers near them. It was that I was incredulously flummoxed how these two could have been raised in church and be so oblivious and uncaring of the effect they were having on those around them, and, thus, on the church service too. Lost souls sat inches away, and those two were selfishly unaware and uncaring of the effect they were having on them. In the end, this revealed how they really thought about a church service and the church in general. Too many Christians today think only of themselves when it comes to their participation in, attendance of, and belonging to a church. Everything about church is viewed through a narcissistic lens. They think of Church, its services, ministries, and activities only in terms of Do I like it? Do I get anything from it? Does it focus on me? Am I blessed by it? Does it facilitate my inclinations, talents, desires, etc.? They do not think in terms of how they and their choices may influence, affect, help or hurt the Church. Making a decision about attending or not, participating or not, staying at or leaving, they think only in terms of themselves and not in terms of the effect of their decision on the Church. A person decides to leave a church based on his subjective whims, desires, preferences and never gives thought to how his leaving will affect that community of the Church. Not thinking of the Church, he gives no consideration to all the ways the Church has ministered, helped, blessed, contributed to him. He gives it no consideration in his decisions because he does not even think of it. He thinks only in terms of himself. Not thinking of the way the Church has helped him, he does not think of the effect of his decisions on the Church. And that’s just the thing. If he thinks of the Church at all, he thinks of it as an “it.” The Church, his church, is not an “it”. His church is a community. A community is people. Church is not an “it,” an institutional impersonal entity that cannot be hurt. Church is a community of people that are hurt by the individual’s rejection of them. The community of the Church is a family of people. I could go on and on about this individual vs community thing but must restrain myself. I will rather point to Jesus, the Great Example; He lived His life for the community. He did nothing for Himself but for the community of His followers. He announced that He did not come to be ministered to but to minister. He illustrated this by His washing of the disciples’ feet. That church service was not about Him but about the community. They had dirty feet; Jesus washed them. Lest someone point out that putting the community’s need before one’s own was something uniquely limited to Jesus, it must be noted that Jesus followed that foot washing with, “I have given you an example that you should do as I have done to you.” Not wash each other’s’ feet specifically, but to put others' needs above one’s own—of not being served but serving others. In a rough analogy, the Church is not about a solo but about a choir. In reality, there are humble soloists who bless others. But, I’m speaking in an analogy. Church is not about each showcasing his singular singing ability in a solo. Church is about joining the choir where each blends his voice with others in a unified harmony that produces a melodious blessing to all who hear. One who is a part of the choir must realize if he makes his decisions based only on his own caprice, desires, and perceived needs, it will hurt the choir. His simple choice of showing up for choir or not will affect it. His choice to quit or join choir will have an effect. If he decides he will not sing unless he has a solo part, if he decides he wants to sing a different song than what the choir is singing, or sing in a different key, or not sing his part but someone else’s---all these hurt the choir. And the choir being hurt does not minister as it could. Individuals are needed to make up a choir. But, individuals must make their choices based on what is good for the choir. He must not forget that he himself is blessed by singing with the choir. Not because he has found a place to sing by himself and do his thing, but because he has contributed to the community. In being a blessing he is blessed. Today we gather as a choir. We unify and blend our voices and hearts. We think of the good of our community, our Church. Still speaking analogously, I even have a suggestion for what song we sing, “Revive US again!” Pastor Hurst