When I was younger, my family decided to change churches from the large church we were going to, to a smaller church closer to home. It was the church my mother had grown up in. One of the reasons that we left, was because we could sense that worship was not a priority of the church we were at. We wanted to be somewhere that focused on worship and fellowship versus how many programs people could be a part of and the politics of making your church a prominent one in the state convention. (Let me clarify that there is nothing wrong with these programs, but I feel that true worship should be a primary focus of a church.)
Last year, I felt a very strong calling by the Lord to move my letter to a different church. I have yet to do so because I was proud of being a member of my home church. I didn't want to have a new church home and new church family. I liked what my church stood for. I'm very sad to say, that I feel God was preparing me for what would happen this week.
To offer some background, the church my family attends is a small, country church. My daughter, who is 2 years old, loves music, and she loves to listen to her Sunday School songs, and praise songs non-stop. Since she has been coming in to church, she will dance in the aisles, and will go up to where the praise singers are. My parents have tried to stop her, but members of the church told them not to. They said that she was worshiping in the only way she knew how, and to not stop her. Apparently, a few people felt the need to complain to the pastor and not bring it up with our family. They say that her doing that disrupts their worship, and it's not fair to let her do it because their kids didn't get to do it. Had the latter part not been added, it would make believing their claims of it disrupting their worship more valid. The latter makes it sound more like jealously. I don't know their hearts, but I do know that they created a program so that no children will be allowed in church, but the pastor told my parents that my daughter was the reason for doing so. Nothing hurts worse than being stabbed in the back like this. Nothing hurts worse than knowing your child's only form of worship is being taken away from them, as if they did something wrong.
My parents are crushed, and have decided that it's time to attend church elsewhere. My daughter may not be able to worship how she has been at a different church, but at least there she will know that they do things differently and not feel like she did something wrong to have it taken away. There are many things that have changed about the worship at my home church that my family doesn't personally agree with, but they have accepted that this is how it is now. They refuse to accept this treatment, and I stand behind them completely. When 2 people, who are both Sunday School teachers, who rearrange their lives to be in church on Sundays and sometimes have nobody attend their class are treated like this, it's a shame. My parents would have given anything to that church if asked. If asked, they also would have stopped my daughter from doing what she was told by other members that she could do.
It's a sad day when brothers and sisters in Christ cannot come together in love and discuss things like this. It's a very sad day when programs are designed to keep children out of church because it is seen as disruptive. Children are the future of our churches. Proverbs 22:6 says, "Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart form it." If you teach a child that it's not acceptable for them to be in church at a young age, at what age will they believe it is acceptable for them to be in there? If other people are swaying to the music, why is it not appropriate for a child to dance? If children want to be close to the praise singers, why is it not acceptable? How else will they learn to worship, unless they are allowed to? My grandmother, who is the longest member of the church, has told my family that we need to find a new church home. She's very upset and hurt by this as well, but she's not well, and since this church is so close to home, she will get a ride with my daughter's former Sunday School teachers.
It is a sad day for me to admit that maybe it's time for me to officially join the church down the road from me that I've been attending. The one I was so proud to be a member of is slowly becoming one that I am not so proud of.
These may be the ramblings of a hurt mother, but if my child was loud and disruptive, I could understand. I've witnessed her in action, and she either dances quietly or attempts to sing along with the songs. Neither of which are different than some of the adults. The only difference is she does so at the alter. For some reason, I don't feel as if God would be upset if more of use weren't praising him through dance and song at the altar.
Matthew 19:14 says, "But Jesus said, 'Suffer little children, and forbid them not, to come to me: for such is the kingdom of heaven."
No comments:
Post a Comment