The gift of oddness

This post is from the defunct blog "Dying Church"

From Messy Spirituality:

I pastor the slowest growing church in America. We started twelve years ago with ninety members and have ungrown to thirty. We are about as far as you can get from a user-friendly church - not because our congregation is unfriendly but because our services are unpredictable, unpolished, and inconsistent. We are an "odd friendly" church, attracting unique and different followers of Christ who make every service a surprise. One Sunday morning, one of our parishioners forgot she was to read the Scripture. When it was time for the reading, there was a long, awkward silence. Conscious that something was awry, the woman looked up and realized that everyone was staring at her. Shocked at her lapse of memory, she blurted out a...er...very "colorful" word. Another long silence followed, and then the laughter began. It was the strangest call to the reading of the gospel I have ever experienced. The woman was embarrassed, apologized, and went on to read the Scripture. I am certainly not condoning the use of swear words in church, but it was an accident, it was funny, and we had to admit, she read the Scripture with a humility and a vigor that our church hadn't seen in years. Such happenings aren't unusual in our church because we refuse to edit oddness and incompetence from our services. We believe our oddness matters. We want our services filled with mistakes and surprises, because life is full of mistakes and surprises.

Comments

[Jared]

Great book Darryl, thanks for the thoughts.

[Mike]

I heard Mike tell this story earlier this year at Emergent, and he filled in the blanks. I've never laughed so hard in my life. It's ironic that a church planter would probably consider that church a "failure", yet it is absolutely critical to those 30 people, so much so that Mike stays. Beautiful.

[Eric]

Pen writes about his friend who says, "If you cuss, drink, and cheat on your wife outside the walls of the church -- might as well do it inside the church walls." Hmm. I hardly see how that's pleasing to God, Who wants us to seek after holiness. I realize this quote is just to make a point, and not to be taken literally, but why not turn it around? "If you DON'T cuss, drink, and cheat on your wife INSIDE the walls of the church -- might as well NOT do it outside the church walls." That striving for holiness will, I suspect, please God.

[Darryl]

Both ways are good. I think the idea is that we can come to God as we are, in our filth (which is in fact how we all come to God), and there find grace, without adding the sin of hypocrisy to our problems.

[Pen]

I agree. God is not predictable - read Acts. God is a God of surprises -- ask Abraham and Sarah. Worship has to be more than routine liturgy. The goal isn't to complete a cheklist of todos -- but to be authentic people in relationship and worship with God. I have a friend who asks his congregation not to edit their behavior in the church versus outside the church. If you cuss, drink, and cheat on your wife outside the walls of the church -- might as well do it inside the church walls. What do you think -- God can only see you in the church? God is everywhere... and wants us to be faithful everywhere too. Worship should be human.. and unpredictable.