Blahism

Let's get one thing straight. I love GOD! I can recite the Apostle's creed and believe every word of it. I have a decent grasp on the catechisms, and I think I know where most of the Biblical books are. I know that Jesus teaches love, and faith, and trust, and sacrifice, and I believe that the rules are there to make our lives better, not to hinder our lives. I am Christian Reformed, firmly founded on 'blahism'.

One thing I have never been able to understand is the demonination, nor what the big deal about denominations is. I know the difference between protestants and catholics. I know about the Reformation, the Crusades, and why the various creeds and catechisms were written. I know that in the Protestant Christian faith, there are a multitude of other various churches that have broken off. Baptists, CRC, URC, RCA, Presbyterian, Luthern, Methodist, etc, etc. And other than the practising differences between the various Protestant churches and the Catholic ones, we all fundimentally believe the same thing, don't we?

I'm not here to debate faiths, but the practises. I'm not even going to debate the practises of the denominations outside my own. I will however say this. When people are asked to describe Christians in North America, their reactions is as follows. 'Judgemental, harsh, boring people who have nothing better to do than try and stuff their religious views down the throats of their neighbors, and then sit through the most uninspiring, unhappy service anyone has ever seen.' I know that when I come across people and they ask what denomination I am from, I say CRC. 95% of the time the response is "But its so blah." Hence the coined term blahism.

Christianity is anything but blah. In fact, Blahism should not be the definer of the Christian faith at all. God gave his son so that we could be saved. We should be rejoicing, not turning up our noses if someone is sitting in our pew at church. We should be lifting our hands and praising, not standing still for fear that someone is looking. The problem lies in the first description of Christians. 'Judgemental'. God teaches us to love. Which we do. But we have been caught up in the image bearing perfectionist society. God didn't tell us to love only the well-dressed, porcelian-doll type people. God didn't tell us to love only the homeless, forsaken, broken people. God didn't tell us only to love those of our own race, or faith, or class. God didn't tell us to love only the people in our church, school, community. God told us to love everyone. EVERYONE.

I blame the judgement for the blahism. We sit in church, first of all, primped and proper. Sunday clothes, Psalter Hymnals..we are the hypocritical congregation not unlike the one from the movie Footloose. We have our spots that we always sit in, the people that we always talk to, and the gossip that we always share after the service is over. (I`m not even going to start on that..) Church is boring. When did praise and worship become overcome with a list of unspoken do`s and don`ts that the entire world must follow. Why is it irreverent to wear jeans? Why can`t we raise our hands and sing? Why do we stare upon newcomers as if they don`t belong? Why is it, that we expect to come out of church feeling depressed and tired? It`s no wonder the world doesn`t think Christianity is all that great! We are a pretty boring bunch of people!

Can you really blame people for not being interested? Our world is consumeristic, self agreeable, and unaccountable. Why come to church if you can do your groceries, surf the net, or party on? Why bother putting any effort into faith at all when the world tells us that every belief is somehow `correct`, `respectable`, `self-adhesive`. The problem is simply, religion is a bunch of rules and regulations that a no-frill world just doesn`t want. In short, it`s boring, it`s blah.

`Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!` -Phillipians 4:4

I don`t think we were meant to be a people of blahism..