Church may be for girls (not the orginal title) (Audi Partem Altarem)

As I began pondering this thought a few nights ago I had a firm idea that church was for girls. Church has gotten fruffy. Lets start with the scenary. Flowers up on stage- girly. Curtains in front of the baptistry-girly. Purlple on the cross- ehh a stretch, but feministic. Our implements of communion are stached in shiny nice looking vesseles, except for the N.A. coC which have manly hand-crafted wood-shop style trays. Also think about all the conversations about the carpet color being outdated, the building not having an apealing exterior, and the constant remodeling of the women's bathroom. I thought church was the true place of equality, but not if you've ever walked into the women's bathroom compared to mens. I don't make this a habit but it happens. (Wow there's no making that sound right). umm Fruffy. Right. Sense when did we need padded pews or new "welcome" mats.

Next, lets examine the order of worship. We sing songs about love and embraces. And don't get me started on Amazing Love. We water down our language with fruffyness. We talk about Adoring; what's adorable about manly stuff. Nothing. By the way, what's adorable about crucifixtion. We've invented the "Worship Service." Frankly I think, wait, know we abuse the term worship. First of all I think what many people reffer to as a worship service is really a praise service. It seems that worship is more related to a sacrifice, like old-school cows and whatnot. Paul (the wiser) said that offering our bodies... was our worship. Which brings me to point 3a

Worship style. I am tired of the same old worship style. I'm not talking about whether we sing Luther songs or Michael W. Smith, I don't really care. I'm talking about our canned style of Sunday morning "worship." Apart from the offering basket (which moves faster than a skateborad at the X-games), I don't see anybody making real sacrifices on Sunday morning during the sermon. Wait, yes there are. There are generally three to four people really "worshiping" during the service. The ladies (or gentelmen) who are in the back coraling 16 kids, half who have ADHD. There's where the sacrifice or worship is. Christ didn't spend every Sabath waiting to be served by women, but taking it to the people, healing the sick, and offering his time.

I'm not saying we should ditch the current format, but maybe we should consider it. Also its easy to talk big but lets see if Paul Murphy can put his time where is fingers are (mouth is typing reference). So Sunday, May 19th will be Worship Sunday. I'm going to pick up trash on the side of the road, maybe people will see God's glory. If I see any homeless people I'll take them to lunch. It seems better than self-service church service. It also lacks any tainting of fruffyness as I will be getting my hands dirty, real dirty.


Paul "Better on Paper" Murphy

P.S. this is probably why I love Palmetto Bible Camp so much. It gives me an opportunity to serve in a manly way. I move 150 lb pews, run around coraling campers, and push little girls up a mountain (who, btw, drank all my water last time). Its a manly time of service.

Next post- It's not about the shotguns and grunting- more of the courageous part. Apolegitics of Wild at Heart and GodMen