NextGenKent

Have we merely exchanged one place for another, one attitude transported from the Temple of old to our Church today? Have we denied access to people and issued invisible passes for entry? Have we sinned by marking off the territory between people and God and made it much bigger, much more difficult than it really is? Do we surround our churches (and our hearts) with "courts" limiting admittance to people? Do we wear looks on our faces that betray our sinful hearts which speak to people, “You may come THIS far but no farther!” The court of the Gentiles is where we marginalize our children and our youth. We have sent them out of our adult worship communicating to them that access is for adults only. We have told people who work on Sundays they are to be in church but then feast at their tables and in our hypocrisy banish them to the outer courts. We must repent and tear down the gates of our attitudes. The court of the women has become the boundaries of where the age...

I was recently reminded while reading Marva Dawn's book, Reaching Out Without Dumbing Down , about a phrase I heard in a church back in 1991. It was the first time I heard it and saw it demonstrated that summer in a church in Greenwood. The children's pastor's message for the 'children's chat' was how they (we) are the actors in worship and God is the audience. He posited the question, "When you leave today, be sure to ask your parents on the way home, 'How did we do today?'" as a way to remind them (us) that God is the audience alone and we all are the performers (not just those on stage). Neat illustration? Yes. Corrective? Sure. But there was always something it that didn't seem to sit well with me. And Marva's words (p153) helped me to reflect on why. Marva: "...the congregation being the actors who worship God and God being the Actor who reveals himself in that worship to his people..." Yes, God is involved in t...