“Quit your worship charades. I can’t stand your trivial religious games: Monthly conferences, weekly Sabbaths, special meetings— meetings, meetings, meetings—I can’t stand one more! Meetings for this, meetings for that. I hate them! You’ve worn me out! I’m sick of your religion, religion, religion, while you go right on sinning. When you put on your next prayer-performance, I’ll be looking the other way. No matter how long or loud or often you pray, I’ll not be listening. And do you know why? Because you’ve been tearing people to pieces, and your hands are bloody. Go home and wash up. Clean up your act. Sweep your lives clean of your evildoings so I don’t have to look at them any longer. Say no to wrong. Learn to do good. Work for justice. Help the down-and-out. Stand up for the homeless. Go to bat for the defenseless."
Isaiah 1:16-17 MSG
John 12:24 "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit."
7 comments:
Wow.... That was awesomely ... scary. But it speaks so much to what I see so much of, which is so many groups "playing church". You preach that sermon and most places will have fried preacher for the potluck dinner that afternoon.
It's true that most churches don't want to hear it. More's the pity. I've preached it, and watched the folks wincing. :)
This effectively sounds like most evangelical churches in America.
That's unfortunately true, TB. Our church decided to ignore the constant urging to have yet another program, or committee, or busy-work. We chose instead to concentrate on that which Christians are commanded to do in the latter part of this passage.
Those last six sentences are a pretty good plan for life!
Too many churches now want to be "PC", rather than listen to or follow the word of God.
Scary times.
Thank you for this post, Reverend.
NFO, that's exactly right. We'd all be better off if more people practiced it.
Linda, it's all going according to the Bible, wherein Jesus told us this would happen.
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