HELP!

I start with these lyrics from the Beatles:

HELP!HELP! I NEED SOMEBODY,HELP! NOT JUST ANYBODY,HELP! YOU KNOW I NEED SOMEONE, HELP.HELP ME IF YOU CAN, I'M FEELING DOWNAND I DO APPRECIATE YOU BEING AROUND.HELP ME GET MY FEET BACK ON THE GROUND,WON'T YOU PLEASE, PLEASE HELP ME.

I had an interesting conversation with a great friend just the other day that alarmed me. He's a "corporate" fellow and we were talking about the comparisons to the church. Now, I am not much on such comparisons as the church and the corporation are not the same institutions. In the corporate world you can fire people who aren't productive, with little or no concern for their well being. After all, they had their chance. But in the church world, well they are people, and their well being should matter a little more...and grace should abound in all.

But we were discussing systems, more specifically systems that are designed to get people funtioning properly. We spent some time discussing the importance of foundational structure and how important it was to overall "success" before diving into some other arenas of dialogue. The comparisons I think were fair. After all, the church as we know it is an institution, and in any institution there needs order, structure, and purpose.

For the church, the foundation has already been laid. That is Christ. No debate. And it would be foolish for any church to ever think that their "corporate" policies superceded that. But a struggle remains in any culture with that foundation. How do you make it concrete? Jesus doesn't live here in the flesh here anymore and as vital as the Holy Spirit is, we have made that person of the trinity extrremely foggy at best. So what is the answer to making Christ concrete...the church. By the power of the Holy Spirit, the church was established. And the church today needs to find ways to make Christ touchable again.

In our conversation, this conclusion was reached: "As beneficial as the church has been, it just isn't helping me through life." Ouch!! I don't know if that conclusion hurt me more as a Pastor or as a Christian. If I were truthful, i think it hurts me as a sinner most. Because I can see it. And I can count numerous times I needed help, that I did not feel the church equipped to really help me through.

I have to be fair, it is hard to help people who do not avail themselves to help. After all, in my sin or any other's sin and despair, the current system tells us it is our own fault, and more of our fault if we cannot dig ourselves out. After all, we live in the land of opportunity. Good ol' America! If you cannot live high on the hog here, it is certainly because you are lazy or just don't have sense enough to pull yourself up by the boot straps. But I cannot help but raise the question of how one is to avail themselves to a help that is not made attainable to them. Was not, or is not Christ just that, God reaching His hand to those who knew no way? Was not Christ God's answer to making Himself "concrete"? Perhaps my theology is tainted, but I am beginning to want to defend this position more and more. Granted, some people will never respond to the Gospel. Got it. But there is a flipside to that opinion. Some people either don't know or they are victim of faulty presentation. In that case, who's fault is it?

So I am concerned pastorally about how well the church is really helping people sometimes. It saddens me that good people, who are wholly committed to the church in attendance, giving, and even serving that feel the church is not really helping them through life. They get to hear their problems railed against, and in some scenarios brought up in discussions, but their is never any real help offered. The porn addict gets to hear how wrong and dirty he/she is, but never offered a system of help to break the addiction. The struggling marriage gets to hear about God's ideal of living in perfect harmony, but is never offered a human hand or listening ear that hasn't treated the situation like an inconvenience. Some of our current systems have bowed to poor theology, or denied Christian education altogether, leaving our next generation with a foundaiton of only mixed emotions about Christian living. In the current climate, we have become self-proclaimed experts on "Christianity in the market place", but have denied a proper forum of Christian community where people find strength for the battle or healing from its wounds.

So what can be done about this? If I had those answers I wouldn't be so focused on the problem. I simply think it's time to come to the table though. Communication is the first step. All the frustrated that have remained silent so long need to raise their voices of heart-felt concern to our church leaders. Sitting on the pew (or in those new-fangled connecting chairs) in frustration doesn't help anyone. We're either going to once again making Christ known or simply stay in our stagnant state of "Christian" affairs. I am calling for covnersation of how. Maybe because my concern has never been higher, or maybe just becasue I refuse to any longer live life this way.