Pilgrim of Worship #7: The Dangers of Playing It Safe

If you've been following Unity 2.0, don't worry, there is more to come. I neglected, however, to finish my pilgrim of worship series.

After the church explosion in Abilene and the rampant abuse that followed, my joy in worship was sapped. There were songs I could not sing because of the memories. I spent two more years in Abilene trying to figure out how to live and worship.

Finally, I graduated and we moved about as far from Abilene as you can get - Minnesota. We went from dangerous to safe, to put it mildly. If the church I was at in Abilene had been cutting edge before the melt down, then the church I went to was the epicenter of mainstream don't-step-on-anyone's-toes-ism. Please, very good people and I have close frineds there, but the church was governed by a mentaility of maintenence. Thus the worship reflected that posture.

The ban on female participation, the mandatory hymns, and skepticism that "camp songs" during worship ignited really brought me back to a place once upon a time. But none of that bothered me initially because at least I knew what I was getting into. There weren't going to be any Pentecostal Powerplays here, and that is just what I wanted, at first.

As I healed, I grew restless once again. The worship really was dead, from my perspective. Yes, it is about what I bring to it. I did my best. At the same time, what I had to wade through to get there for corporate worship left me looking for Saturday night services at the local community churches. My wife and I went to an unforgettable Sonicflood concert that was surprisingly very worshipful. That was in 2000 and talk about it still.

You know, there is no safe. The dangers of familiarity and comfort are potentially more threatening than the dangers of progress and adventure. This is not the usual common sense through. In fact, I recently heard a church person say that he was glad to live in the box because living outside the box leaves you vulnerable to Satan's attacks. Inside the box is safe. Well, since I know the context of the comment, I willl get him pass on it.

However, this statement cannot be generalized. How many people are lulled into spiritual complacency resembling The Matrix where they are fat and happy that all is well in the world and in their church because they wear the same clothes and sing the same songs and have the right theology? That, my friends, scares the crap out of me. The more I learn of the priorities of my spiritual history, the more I fear I am deeply damaged - or my system is corrulpted.

I have been safe for the past 7 years. I am sick and tired of being safe. I am ready for some danger.

I do not know where my pilgrimage of worship will take me. All I know is that safe is not something I can afford to be anymore.