There are no hidden meanings in these questions, I am merely asking “Why?”
Why do we think it is most important to attend the Sunday morning sermon?
Why do we refer to the pastor as the “Man of God” and the congregation as the “People of God?”
Why do we shake hands for 15 seconds and call it fellowship?
Why do we have pastor search committees?
Why do we have business meetings?
Why do we have a “church clerk”?
Why do we tithe?
Why do we need “church staff”?
Why do we care about buildings?
Why do we think we need a “worship leader”?
Why do we maintain membership?
Why do we depend on one human man for teaching and spiritual growth?
Why do we eat a wafer and drink grape juice?
Why do we kneel in front of the altar?
Why do we call the stage an altar?
Why do we bow our heads and close our eyes?
Why do we hold annual revivals?
Lew,
Did you intend for your “label” for this post to be the answer to your questions? Seriously, many of these probably started for very good reasons. Problems come along when we forget the reasons, but keep the solutions as necessary. Out of such grows “tradition”.
-Alan
Ditto what Alan said …
Blessings!
Hey Lew,
G.K. Chesterton once said, “We are
learning to do a great many clever things. Unless we are much mistaken the next great task will be to learn not to do them.”
Like Alan said, I think we have forgotten why we do them…other than the standard, “It’s always been done this way” answer. We need to unlearn some things.
Be blessed.
Brandon
Lew –
I thought about this the other night when I was at a homeschooling seminar and the speaker wanted to open with prayer. When she said “Let’s pray” everyone’s heads bowed and eyes closed in unison, like we were all robots and the magic words were spoken. For a while now I have not been bowing my head when I am praying publicly. Sometimes I don’t even close my eyes. *gasp* And not out of rebellion or to be different, but out of the best way for me to seek & speak with the Lord … privately I don’t do either, so why publically?
But, I can say that when our oldest is praying, or someone else is praying & she is present, I do have a tendency to tell her to bow her head and close her eyes because she is so easily distracted. But perhaps I am putting something on her by saying that. I dunno. Your asking this and my writing that above make me question even telling her that. Hmmmm … good thoughts and questions …
~Heather
Alan
Yes, my label was intended to be the answer to my questions, good catch. There are many things listed here that I do not think we should do at all, there are many things listed here that I have no problem with.
Brandon
Good quote, thanks for commenting.
Heather,
Great observation. I use to do the same thing, now like you, I very often neither bow my head nor close my eyes. I guess, sometimes I do bow, sometimes I don’t, it depends. It’s not a bad thing, especially for those who get distracted (like your young one). But we have to remember to teach it as an aid to prevent distraction, not as the way to pray.
I also question why we do the “bow your head close your eyes” thing during decision makings. Last time I checked getting saved involved a public proclamation. It’s like we’re encouraging people to hide the fact that they want to get saved, until they “walk the aisle.”
Anyways, thanks for the comment and the great observations.
God’s Glory,
Lew