If you feel alone this morning because you don’t know where to go to church, believe us. You are NOT alone. Statistics are coming out these days to tell a tale that few want to talk about in church. People are not going to any services. They’re not getting involved if they do or they just watch online. Discouragement in religious institutions, their leaders, and entire denominations is at an all time high for so very much of America, particularly in the Evangelical Church including everything from nondenominational megachurches to the little country church on the edge of town.
You’ll probably hear church folks naming/blaming all kinds of things while they try to make sense of it all, but the truth might elude them because they won’t stand in front of a mirror. (Sidenote: I actually resonated with some of the Andy Stanley post linked here. I think he hits on some needed talking points. More on that soon… in this series!)
When you stand in front of a mirror, what do you see?
I love this photo. It’s fun, funny, and bittersweet. It comes from a series by the photographer Tom Hussey who captured this idea of who you are and who you FEEL like you are. For more photos check them out here: https://www.npr.org/sections/pictureshow/2012/08/07/157743116/does-the-mirror-reflect-how-you-feel
If you’re like me, you might actually do a lot of time avoiding mirrors. I’ve never enjoyed looking at myself. It’s uncomfortable for me for so very many reasons that I won’t go into here, but my husband and my counselors could tell you all about them. The point is that my fears and insecurities over my looks are too much to bear at times and it has caused a lot of anxiety over the course of my entire life. I have a love hate relationship with my physical appearance and so I simply avoid looking.
This analogy holds up for some of us when it comes to the churches we’ve attended, been in leadership of, and otherwise tried to support. When churches decide to simply ignore looking at themselves with any honesty and integrity, very dangerous things happen. Cruelty emerges. Lies emerge. Accusations toward those leaving emerge. The loss of integrity and institutional betrayal become cogs in the wheel demanding loyalty of those who remain and dismissing those who would dare speak out. In other words, it ceases to be a church.
When churches decide to simply ignore looking at themselves with any honesty and integrity, very dangerous things happen. Cruelty emerges.
–AskingForMe.org
In the letter of James, as we might remember, talks specifically to this. “be doers of the word and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. Because if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like someone looking at his own face in a mirror. For he looks at himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of person he was.” (James 1:22-24 CSB)
Over the next few weeks, we’ll be unpacking the mirrors again, trying to look closer at the reasons people leave and the reasons so many churches want to look away. We’ll have stories to tell and mirrors to reveal. Hope you join us.
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Asking For Me 
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