They come to you as people come, and they sit before you as my people, and they hear your words, but they will not obey them. For flattery is on their lips, but their heart is set on their gain. To them you are like a singer of love songs, one who has a beautiful voice and plays well on an instrument; they hear what you say, but they will not do it.
Here's a bit from Ezekiel I just glossed over from today’s section. Part of the reason is that this section included both the bit about giving Israel a new heart, and the part about dry bones; lots to mull over. But the accompanying reflection skipped those two parts and focused on this section.
People come and hear words but don’t obey. People hear words, but to them the words are entertainment – like a singer of love songs. The words are something that wash over them, rather than seeping into them. How unfortunate for the Ezekiel in this section. He’s busy prophesying and the people don’t do what God’s telling him to tell them to do.
But here’s the catch. This is an experience that’s repeated throughout the ages and throughout the world. People come to worship God in churches, synagogues, or mosques and we appreciate the beautiful voice or instrument, the stirring message, the heartfelt prayers. We too see it like a love song, that washes over us, but doesn’t seep in. We don’t do what we’re God calls us to do. We value church services by the entertainment factor, or the music, or the convenience of the services. We bring our friends if we’re adequately impressed. Ouch.
Even more of a problem is this is not solely a problem with the attendees of worship. It’s perhaps even more so a problem with the planners or leaders of worship. We too evaluate our efficacy by the entertainment. If people liked our service, our message, our music, they’ll bring friends. If they bring friends, clearly it was a success, right?
But if we do that, aren’t we focusing on the impact of the soulful love song and lovely voices? Are we evaluating our ‘success’ on whether God’s word was heard and heeded? Can we even know how God acted on the worshippers?
The reflection by Dallas Willard posits that we must lovingly let people think what they will. If our focus is on God’s kingdom, our measure of success cannot be human approval, or we are simply playing into the core problem of the worshippers appreciating, but not acting. He writes, “we can only serve [the people] by serving the Lord only”.
This morning, I’m thinking about the tension between the real implications of ASA (average Sunday attendance) and just serving God. I want to care about the latter, and assume it will take care of the former.
No comments:
Post a Comment