The Critical Church

"The music is too loud."

"A woman shouldn't be on the pulpit."

"If you repeat a song too many times, it loses its meaning."

"God is not deaf."

"His pronunciation was terrible."

"Why didn't the pastor say something about that?"

"You shouldn't use your phone to read scripture."

"He is reading his prayer."

"Her prayer has no structure."

"The worship had no direction."

"How can they let a child do that?"

"That was such a distracting slang."

"Young people should know better."

"Worship was flat."

Sound familiar? The church would like to think themselves free from the little quirks of the world but the truth is that they are right at the center of it. With the onslaught of knowledge acquisition via the internet, everyone has become a critic. We criticize everything from a certain actor's movie choices to a particular singer on Youtube. We, ourselves, are the smartest people that we know and everyone else is just too blind and needs our 'enlightenment'.

The church hasn't escaped this. I always found that the beauty of having denominations in the Christian faith was that there was a church for everyone. But somehow we are caught in a "ours is better" debate between denominations which only serves to show non-Christians our differences, and because of that, these non-Christians will never see the common ground that C.S.Lewis talks about:

"When all is said (and truly said) about the divisions of Christendom, there remains, by God's mercy, an enormous common ground." - C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity 

We're so busy fighting among ourselves trying to prove who is right that we're missing out the main point. We forget the one thing that is most important of them all - that Grace has come to set us free. And from the Grace that we have received through the example and mercy of Jesus Christ, we too should show grace.

But that isn't the case, the church is so caught up in pleasing the congregation that we're crippled instead of set free. Worship leaders who are eager to sing new songs unto the Lord are quickly turned into uninspired puppets because of the murmurings of critical people. How do you expect one person to dare stand before the congregation to speak of God's amazing grace when the person knows that that grace is not extended to him? When your every move from walking too much and standing too still is noted down by critical eyes? When your every diction is scrutinized and your mannerism interpreted for worse? How is one free to worship when hands are nervously raised and knees are scared to bend?

We are set free by Grace. We are set free from the bondage of the world. At least we are supposed to be. Somehow we are free from earthly bondage but are subject to the chains of legality. How can this be?

"In essentials, unity; in non-essentials, liberty; in all things, charity." - Augustine of Hippo

We take pride in our ability to spot the splinter in our brother's eye. And the worse part is that we are well aware of the teachings of Jesus on this. We take pride in bringing down our fellow Christians. We take pride in winning the little battles. We take pride in our intellectual capability.

In so doing, we fail to exercise grace. We fail to be the least of these. We fail to love. We fail to lift others up.

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If I have ever used my intellect as a means of bringing you down, I am sorry. If I have ever criticized your actions either in front of you or behind your back, I ask for your forgiveness. If I have ever hurt you for uncalled reasons, I apologize. I don't want to be part of the critical church anymore. I want to be a grace reflector. I have been saved by grace and from now on I only hope that my actions reflect grace.