A Wacky Season with AChuckAllen
This year has already been filled with some odd happenings. Donald Trump is now the POTUS, Mr. T is Dancing with the Stars, the markets are through the roof, and new words or phrases, like “fake news”, are being conjured up daily. Not to mention that the Atlanta Falcons played in the Super Bowl!
But here are a few things that seem to remain unchanged:
- Church attendance, across all denominations and across the country is dropping each year. I’m of the opinion that it is caused by three predominant factors. 1) The inability for many churches to change the way they deliver their version of the God Story – The Gospel, as we Evangelicals would describe it. 2) The inability to stop screaming at people that disagree with whatever they believe. I rarely run across someone that has an issue with the Divine. I can’t remember a time that I spoke with someone that had a challenge with Jesus. But I have run across plenty of folks that have a great issue with the hypocrisy of religious leaders that espouse their piety while living something quite different. 3) The church cannot remain a constant thorn in the side of our municipalities and public schools and then hope to have an impact in their community. I read a very well-known pastor’s statement that he was not called to make an impact on the community where his church was located, but rather, he believed he was called to “other, more vital spiritual leadership.” While I absolutely agree with his choice to do so, get out of the way of those that are trying to make a loving, lasting impact in our communities and honor our choice as well.
- Dirty politics! If you’ve read many of my posts, you are probably aware that I am a self-proclaimed”Progressive Republican.” But what I see happening is that America spent her last sixteen years as follows: President George W. Bush has approval ratings through the roof on 9/11, then he was butchered for the remainder of his term. Then President Barak Obama was praised by many while being massacred by the right for most of his term, and still today. Now President Donald Trump is having a go at it and is equally beaten up by the other side of the aisle. Isn’t it time for a more centrist party and platform that might accomplish something other than feeding the late night manuscript fodder? We desperately need some grown-ups to grow up in Washington…and in the Church!
- Millions of people are in need of food, clothing, shelter and assistance, and much of the world is starving to death. We launch assaults on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram about pro-life, pro-whale, save the pandas and global warming but seem to pay less and less attention to people in our own communities that are in need. Can’t we step off of the picket line long enough to put our money and our mouth to work for something or someone that is in need?
Here is the irony. I just spent 15 minutes writing this article, when I could have been doing something else that would be of service to cause of Christ and the betterment of mankind. What about you? How will you spend your next 24 hours?
Peace, AChuck
