Ok, I apologise in advance about this post as I am slightly wound up as I write it. I know my attitude right now is not what it should be as a Christian as I know that I am far from perfect myself. But I need to get this off my chest and hope that I can make a useful point at the same time.
So tomorrow I will not be going to my normal Church. The reason for this is that we have guest preachers at our Church tomorrow. Obviously this is not the reason for my non attendance, but who the guest speakers are is. These ministers have connections to both my Church and my family, specifically connected to a distant cousin of mine. This cousin of mine has recently had a baby and has expressed the desire to have him dedicated back to the Church. The visiting preachers are her paternal aunt and uncle and she had thought it may be nice for them to conduct this service of dedication. When they were asked if they would be able to do this they decided that due to the child being born out of wedlock they could not conduct the service due to the rules and regulations in our Church.
Now for me this seems wrong, surely this has nothing to do about the parents. Surely the child has done nothing wrong, why should he be prevented from being dedicated in to God's family.
Matthew 19:14
But Jesus intervened: "Let the children alone, don't prevent them from coming to me. God's kingdom is made up of people like these."
Surely preventing a child from being accepted into a Church for any reason is wrong. How can any organisation claiming to be for Christ prevent a child from being brought back to Him. Fair enough the child was not born in to a marriage, but he was born to two Christians who due to circumstances have not be able to marry yet but who intend to do so when it is possible. This does not excuse them the fact that child was born out of wedlock, but how can it be right to prevent this innocent child from being dedicated to God.
The next part of the saga is one that upsets me most. Despite the fact that these ministers are the mothers aunt and uncle they did not refuse her directly. Instead they contacted her father, who then phoned her mother to ask her to inform her that they would not do the service. For me this says one thing and one thing only, they can not defend their decision. Surely if they knew the decision was the right one they would have been honest enough to refuse directly. This is a case where someone has followed a rule or regulation despite knowing it is wrong. How did we get to this point where as a Church we can do things we know to be wrong, that scripture tells us is wrong but carry on doing so because our rules say so. This mornings post by God's inspiration has already mentioned the rules Jesus told us to follow, the two He told us were the most important. I don't think this decision is in line with those rules Jesus commanded us to follow.
Further to this I attended a meeting by these ministers today, and bearing in mind the story so far I will tell you the core of the sermon preached.
Matthew 18:5
What's more, when you receive the childlike on my account, it's the same as receiving me.
Now as I already said bearing in mind the story so far is this really a suitable verse to preach on. Have they read this verse themselves. Because surely if this is true then refusing a child is like refusing Christ, and these people are supposed to be ministers for Christ. Not only this but surely preaching on this verse is unnecessarily inflammatory. I don't know whether this is a series of bad judgement calls, lack of thought or if it has been done intentionally. But whatever it is I struggle to understand how this can happen in a Church, the supposed body of Christ.
So tomorrow I am choosing not to attend my usual Church. One of my friends did ask me would it not be better for me to go and confront them about this situation. In an idea world yes this would probably be the best course of action. I however have a notoriously bad temper at times, it is something I am aware of and working on. However knowing I am already angered by this situation I feel it is better for me to remove myself from it to prevent me saying or doing anything unchristian or to make it worse. So instead I will be going to visit my friend in a nearby city and attend Church with them. This will not only get me out of this situation but also allow me to enjoy Church tomorrow. In addition to this I always enjoy attending different Churches to see how other people worship.
Again I apologise for the tone and content of this blog especially if it has upset anyone, that was not the intention of this post. This post is mainly just a way for me to blow off some steam and express my feelings on this subject. However legalism in the Church is something I will hopefully be able to post on soon so watch this space. Check back tomorrow for the update on the Soldier's Challenge.
Only when we express our true feelings can we sharpen each other as with iron sharpening iron! I've learned that when I take a situation such as yours, and I sit at Jesus' feet, and ask Him directly what He would do, and thus, what I should do, this is what I hear:
ReplyDeleteThe Church will fail you because it is imperfect. That is why you MUST come directly to me for all truth. And the truth is, the church has nothing to do with dedication of babies; that is the parents' responsibility ... just as the Catholic church cannot dictate who is qualified to be served Communion. What really matters to me is how you are living your life at home as well as in the public eye.
I've found everything changes when we truly seek His counsel. And He counsels us to live our lives in such a way that we won't be a stumbling block to anyone. For me to choose to stand before a congregation with a man who is my child's father, but not my husband, and pledge to raise him in the truth of Christ, would be to say this is ok for everyone else to do, too. And for a pastor to perform a ritual such as this would be to say he is condoning such a matter. As a strong believer, I would feel my responsibility is to get my life in order first, before going through the motions of a public baby dedication or anything else ... and this would include dedicating him to God first ... at home ... with only myself and the baby present! Sometimes we forget to do that, thinking the dedication is something that happens at church!
Bottom line as I see it is Jesus calls ME to obedience to Him no matter what anyone else does or says. The only thing that will matter is when I show up in front of Him on judgement day and HE calls for an account of my life. The church won't be there to answer for me ... only me, myself and I! Hope this helps in some way!
I heard on the radio today that we must remember, that as Christians are suppose to be representing Christ, that they will sometimes disappoint and hurt us, but we must remember Jesus never will.
ReplyDeleteMy husband is a pastor and he married a new couple last week that had a child out of wedlock. The irony is that no other pastor would marry them because of the child. We are all damaged good, but because of God's grace we can be restored. Wonder how they would feel about my husband being a pastor, knowing that we have a 25 year old and we have been married for 24 years. God saved us 18 months after our child was born....now look what He is doing in our lives, and working in our daughter's life as well. Sorry, didn't mean to write a long note. Stand Firm in what you believe - don't apologize, unless God says you need to!