A couple of weeks ago I was talking to a young man whom I have known for a long time. Our conversation was pleasant until I asked the question that I ask occasionally when we talk. “So, you going to church anywhere?” Most of my former Youth go to church somewhere, but this young man hasn’t gone anywhere in years. So, I prod him occasionally. Usually there is this excuse or that excuse, but this time he surprised me.

          “Church makes me angry.” I immediately became defensive. After all, I had been his pastor for a long time. “What is it about church that makes you angry?” A moment of silence, then, “I don’t want to talk about it right now.” My immediate impulse would have been to raise my voice and demand that we talk about it right now. But my mind, I believe under God’s influence, stopped me. Not every battle needs to be won right at this very moment.  

          He probably hasn’t thought about it since, but it has never been far from my mind. What is it about church that makes him angry?

          It could be lots of things. People who claim to love the Lord but are often critical about things while doing nothing to make things better. Those who seem to thrive on gossip. People who always walked the walk and then walked away and joined the walk of Satan. Those who rip and tear. Those who complain constantly. And then there are the stories the news media loves to put out there. Priests and pastors (it is not just Catholics) who molest children. Church leaders who steal from their churches. Religious leaders who will say anything to bring in money. People who, in the name of Jesus, support one political stance or the other. Oh, there are a lot of things in the church that makes people angry. It is not enough to say, ‘Well, everyone is just human.’ It is true, we are human. Most people have no trouble understanding a momentary lapse, like a flare of anger. But people have a real hard time understanding ongoing moral failures. None of the things listed above have the excuse of ‘the heat of the moment.’ These are Spiritual failures that the people involved in just shrug off and say, ‘I am just human.’

          So, this young man is made angry by church. What is church? It is a gathering of people. The word in the New Testament that we translate as ‘church’ is the Greek word ‘ekklesia’ and it means a gathering or an assembly of people. Anywhere you have people, you will have short comings. Some of us understand that and we don’t look for perfection in our gathering. But the great majority of people out there see the imperfections and feel they do not want to belong to such as that. Part of our problem is that we seem to insist on living like the world rather than living as His children, and people clearly see that hypocrisy. So, what do we do about it?

          To say we need to start living as Christians need to live is kind of pointless. Most people assume they are living as Christians need to live. Maybe we need to look at that first and foremost.

          1 John 1:5-10 says this---5 This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. 6 If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth: 7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanses us from all sin. 8 If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.

          If you take a candle and light it in a dark room and place it near a wall and then shine a bright flashlight on it, you will see the shadow of the candle holder and the candle, but you will not see the shadow of the fire. You might see the shadow of the smoke, but not the flame. There is no darkness in the flame. Now do this tonight after dark. Go to an outside door and open it. Has it ever been so dark that the dark comes into a lit room? No. The light goes out into the darkness. And, as the light goes out into the darkness, it does not lessen in the light in the room. JESUS IS THE LIGHT! At the very best, we can be the candle holder or the candle. At the very worst, we can be the darkness outside.

          If we are believers in Christ, we need to put aside the things that obscure the Light from people like that young man who is angry at church. We need to step up.         It could be lots of things. People who claim to love the Lord but are often critical about things while doing nothing to make things better. Don’t be so critical about the church or about the people. You are not perfect, either, and you need to work on yourself. Don’t involve yourself in walking with Satan. We talk about ‘falling into sin.’ I believe people walk into sin with their eyes wide open. King David was where he should not have been, he looked over and saw Bathsheba bathing and kept looking and he sent and took her and sinned. And, he was so arrogant that he didn’t see he was walking with Satan until he was told. Quit gossiping. Quit being immersed in things that are not of God. And, for heaven sakes, quit excusing your behavior by saying, ‘Well, I am just human.’ Of course you are human, but we are told to walk with the Lord.

          Why is this young man angry at church? I look at myself first of all. Did I let him down? I don’t know. I don’t see how, but still. But I do know what I am going to do about it. I am going to make it a matter of prayer and I am going to be the best example of the Light I can be. I cannot be the Light, but I can reflect it.

          Blessings.