The Church has taken a black eye over the years, but she’s given out more than a few of her own. Since no human being is perfect, no group of them will be either; but as the song says, “We were made for so much more.” We take a hit on our intended identity when we pay greater attention to how many attend our services than to how well we love before and after them. I feel sorry for those believers who’ve never known anything other than the anonymous church. It’s hard to experience and express God’s love to strangers sitting next to you. Sunday after Sunday in what amounts to the ecclesiastical equivalent of a concert hall, many tread spiritual water midst a sea of strangers–unknown quantities, mutual anonymity. These are they who resemble you, right down to the plaid and khakis, but remain to you a nameless entity.

We’ve been suckered in by the fallacy of attracting. Jesus actually repelled more than he ever attracted, but for all the right reasons. With our seeker sensitive mumbo jumbo, we have sold our birth rite for a bowl of cheap chili; church has become big business in the effort to lure large crowds to assemble, as if attendance is her raison d’être. Concert Christianity trumps discipleship and we aren’t even aware that we’re skating on thin ice. If church is no different than a convention center, why should anyone bother? Disaster results when we reject all that’s right about Christ and replace it with all that’s wrong in the world.

“If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.” (‭2 Chronicles‬ ‭7‬:‭14‬ KJV)