"church is boring"

"Every age has its own characteristics. Right now we are in an age of religious complexity. The simplicity which is in Christ is rarely found among us. In its stead are programs, methods, organizations and a world of nervous activities which occupy time and attention but can never satisfy the longing of the heart. The shallowness of our inner experience, the hollowness of our worship, and that servile imitation of the world which marks our promotional methods all testify that we, in this day, know God only imperfectly, and the peace of God scarcely at all.

If we would find God amid all the religious externals we must first determine to find Him, and then proceed in the way of simplicity. Now as always God discovers Himself to "babes" and hides Himself in thick darkness from the wise and the prudent. We must simplify our approach to Him. We must strip down to essentials (and they will be found to be blessedly few). We must put away all effort to impress, and come with the guileless candor of childhood. If we do this, without doubt God will quickly respond.”-AW Tozer

"Church is boring!" , came the response from one of our sons who shall remain nameless.  

While questions of what level of nerve it took to even utter these forsaken words came to mind, the honestly of these words rang so much louder!  

Hmmm...so church is boring.  

This is certainly not the first time parents or church leaders have heard these words, but too often the inaudible rebuttal to this thought is "fine!  We'll just spice it up!"

We treat religion and worship like we treat our food.  When it loses it's flavor, we add some spice.  When that loses it's flavor, we add some more spice, and many more different varieties this time.  

If you are like me, you have been guilty of adding one, or five more spices to a dish that were never in this lifetime intended to be added, and the result is far south of appetizing. 

Don't we do this with church though?  I'm sorry, but how many more different varieties of one song do we have to sing for us to get the same buzz, taste, affect, fill in the blank?

Have you ever noticed that most complaints about a worship service could be completely extinguished if we remove the WIFM (what's in it for me) factor?

I have a tendency to only go to the best movie theater around.  I want the plush chairs, with the extra leg room, and the nicest speakers, with the best 3D, with the least commercials, and oh, by the way, I also don't want a lot of people there. 

My way, my will, my entertainment.

And this lifestyle inevitably leaks into my worship.  

Still not buying it??  I have been going to church since I was a baby and still every week look at how people are dressed even now.  I dare you to be that brutally telling and say that our entertainment lifestyle does not leak into our worship.

But my worship is truly what I make of it.  Not how it is made for me.  Don't like church?  Heart change is required.

Whether I realize it or not, whether I think about it or not, I enter into the Holy of Holies when I worship.

"And so, dear brothers and sisters, we can boldly enter heaven's Most Holy Place because of the blood of Jesus."--Hebrews 10:19

I dare to stand in the very presence of God, cloaked in the blood of Jesus, and I am bored.   We need a heart change. We need to strip away all that is naught and see that He created us for Him, and not His things. That worshipping Him, is the summit of the Christian life. At that point, we are now ready to be useful to Him, and He can Finally, find pleasure in His will through us. 

As a full people, we must empty ourselves ever before the Holy Spirit finds vacancy in our lives.   I must die to my present self, and Christ must live through me.  

So to my son, 

"Yes, church may be boring right now. But look to that boredom not as a result of God, but as a result of the Fall.  Move all expectations out of your mind.  See you depravity before your creator.  Walk in awe as you pass through the curtain, rent in two, for you, and throw yourself at the feet of the Holy of Holies, pouring all of your cares upon Him, for he cares for you. 

With the heart of David, dance for your God, and serve Him with unwavering obedience.  For He has saved you from yourself.  And He is head over heels in love with you."

"For this God is our God for ever and ever; he will be our guide even to the end."

Psalms 48:14