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Imagine yourself, on a Friday night, walking up to church. Someone mentioned there was a special vespers service going on. You make your way inside, and open the door to the sanctuary. You gaze towards the front and see some kind of video being projected on the wall. You look again, and it seems to be some animated film. Then it dawns on you....this is a scene from "Despicable Me." You probably found the film to be amusing when your first saw it, but now you're in church on a Friday night. That just happened.
I must admit I was greatly shocked. I began this vast internal conflict. Was this the right place? Yes, this was the right place. Could it possibly be, say, a Thursday night instead of being Friday night? No, indeed it is Friday. Then why are we watching Despicable Me? After a moment, the clip ended, and some blurb about following a bunch of rules came up, then something about the Sabbath not just being some rule...
What?
Really?
Is this what we do now? We play random, secular clips in CHURCH on SABBATH and try to pull some spiritual lessons out of it? Is it because the simple, plain truths of the Bible don't engage our minds that we turn to the stars of the screen to point us in the right direction since they hold our attention? Mercy. Only one word come to mind. Profane. And it seems to come to mind with greater frequency.
Profane.
Just last week, while in Alabama, I attended Sabbath School--something that I rarely do. I was sitting, attempting to listen to the teacher as she went through her thoughts on the lesson (which reminded me why I really don't dig Sabbath School much). In a few moments I heard a distinct sound coming from behind me. In the row directly behind me, some young adults were talking. And when I say talking, I mean TALKING, not whispering, not muttering, but a full blown, proper sort of talking that you do when there is absolutely nothing of importance going on around you. I thought to myself, "Give them a minute. They'll finish." After a few minutes, I realized this was not just an exchange. This was a conversation. I gave a few more moments as my indignation burned within me. After 10 minutes, I could no longer hold my peace. I turned around and said to them directly, "Do you mind talking your conversation somewhere else? I'm trying to listen." The guy says, "Sorry." But get this....the girl looks at me like I'M the one at fault with this expression that said, "If you're trying to listen, you should go somewhere else."
These things seem to happen more! I listen to the pure cacophony of sound that fills sanctuaries between Sabbath School and the Divine Service. I behold the frustration as leaders attempt to quell the masses in order to BEGIN the service. I watch after church, and children run through the sanctuary as if it is their personal playground...running, shouting, walking on and jumping over the pews. I hold my peace, I know not how.
What is wrong with our churches? What is wrong with us? Am I just showing up to the wrong places at the wrong times, or have you beheld the same? Does it vex you? What have you done? What can you do? What will you do?
I commented to a friend last night that a famine is coming...not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the LORD (Amos 8:11). This must be the famine. The result of the famine is always hunger, but how much longer, brothers and sisters, must this famine continue before we fully hunger and thirst after righteousness? What has happened to us? Why have we not hungered more? I speak as one guilty.
How long, oh Lord, how long?
Though it were but a few moments ago, a most phenomenal, unprecedented event has just transpired. I report. On today, Thursday, September 16th, in the year of our Lord, AD 2010, I, Benjamin Alan Middleton, consumed three (3) meals in a period of less than 24 hours. Mark it on your calendars, save it in your palm pilots, blackberries, iPhones, and other random devices. In 20-30 years, your kids will want to know where you were and what you were doing when this happened. And you can give them the inside scoop...
(Inside Scoop)
I awakened this morning with a strange thought. What if I ate? It was odd because I had the same thought yesterday morning. I even tried it, just to see if it was a worthwhile endeavor. I concluded it wasn't because it had no apparent, measurable effect on my day. But, I figured I had nothing to lose, and the oatmeal in my pantry was just going to waste anyhow, so I ate before I went to work. Midway though the day, I had another strange thought....why not eat again? Now this was purely insane. Eating twice before a day was anywhere near over? Well, why not. Worth a try, yes? And off I went, apprehending a second meal. Just a short while ago I entered my abode and was startlingly hit by the same thought, for an unprecedented THIRD time! And I ate...again.
For those of you who do not believe me, I do have a witness, Calvin Chuang, who was not only present to observe all three periods of eating, but probably had something to do with putting the thought in my mind. BLASTED INCEPTION!
(The Worst Part)
Now I'm having these strange thoughts about going to sleep. I have no idea what to do with myself anymore. How does that work?
It's like
having a disease, or thinking you have one, but you're not sure, and if you are sure, perhaps just not knowing if there's a cure.
Like a child, perchance, sick with the plague, grasping at the air, in need of something, but unable to find it anywhere.
Like there's an enchantment that keeps them in the safe place to be, yet some few souls are drawn in, thinking they have the remedy
It's like
having a dream you know is a dream, but it's too real for you to wake, or it IS real, but how it feels, and smells, and tastes, you think it's fake.
Like a tear you cry, but not sure why. Are you joyous? Are you blue? Emotions lie, or at least they try. But do you know what's true?
Like a laugh, light upon your lips, but without cause or provocation; you think to laugh, not knowing why. And now the hesitation.
It's like
having eternity seated upon your shoulders, awaiting your command to move ahead and summon worlds you cannot even understand.
Like a future, full of light, and life, with-child now, and to give birth, and you can give the final push, to change the course of all on earth.
Like a past you can't forget, a sun that sinks but never seems to set, with its faint rays still shining back all the joy and deep regret.
It's war.
It's peace.
It's night.
It's day.
It's every rise and fall.
It's all of this, but no, it's not. It's none of this at all.