A friend of mine sent me an E-mail in response to my Random Rants the other day. Here is his addition to my list of “Pastoral Pet Peeves”.
“I wanted to add one to your “random rants”
#6 Does it bother you when church members are home watching the American Idol finale when the rest of the body is at prayer meeting?”
Surely, no one out there did something like that. I mean, most modern church members are so in love with the Lord, and so hungry for His Word, and so excited about corporate worship, that they would never miss church for something so worldly, for something so vain, for something possibly so detrimental to their spiritual health. Or, would they? Of course they would! Most church folks could care less about a Wednesday evening prayer meeting, a revival meeting, or any other time of worship. It’s a sad truth, but it is the condition of the modern church. It’s a good thing we are not under persecution in America at the moment. When things change and it becomes a crime to believe the truths we have been given in the Word of God, the mere church member will be separated from the born again believer. You can take that to the bank!
Well, I’ve got a funeral today. So, I must finish my preparations for that. Before I go let me mention a blog entry I read this morning. The Pastor was talking about the fact that he had to preach twice this week. He was talking about the benefits of preaching twice in a week. Twice! Apparently, this pastor is in a church tradition where he usually preaches just once per week/ Most weeks I preach 6 or 7 times. Nearly all my time is spent praying, preparing and preaching. It is a sanctifying process, but it does make one weary. I can’t imagine what I would have the time to do if I just preached once. Hmmmm…What would I do with all that time? I know! I would visit my congregation like they deserved to be visited. I would spend much more time with my dear wife; she sacrifices much and it goes unappreciated by nearly everyone. I would sleep a little longer in the morning, or perhaps go to bed a little earlier in the evening. I would take my camera out and enjoy doing some photography. I would go to the gym more and lose some of this lard. Of course, if I did that last thing, I would have to change the name of this blog again. Oh well, I can dream about what I would do if I didn’t have to spend so much time in sermon preparation, or I get busy doing what the Lord called me to do. So I am out of here! I’ve got preaching to do! If I am going to preach, then I’ve got preparing to do.
Alan
Fat Baptist 
Once a week? Is that all the “modern” believer needs? If he’s only preaching once a week how often are his sheep involved in daily bible study of their own? Signs of the times.
This fellow pastors a church in Scotland, I believe. So, their tradition is probably somewhat different from ours. One would hope the people there have other opportunities to gather around the Word of God for spiritual nourishment. One would also hope that they are in the habit of grazing in the green pastures of the Lord’s Word for themselves. For my part, I wouldn’t change the way we do things in the least.
I apologize for my harsh and misdirected comment. At the same time I was reading the post, there was a conversation behind me about the amount of time church and church related activities took. This person didn’t feel the need to attend anything more than attend an occasional Sunday morning. I didn’t say anything to this person. I instead sent my thought swirling into cyberspace at the wrong person. I should have kept my mouth shut. Forgive me. I have asked the Lord to do so as well.
I thought you were right on the money! Rant on my Princess!