Just Because It’s Acceptable
Holy is Not What You Think – Part 1
Many of you will be able to relate to what I’m about to share in one way or another. There are numerous examples. Most of you will have your own examples and I’d like for you to share them with us at the end. Using a story, I’d like to give you three observations as I introduce you to this new series of messages, we’re calling: Holy is Not What You Think.
Observation 1: Church Street
There was a young boy around the age of 10 or 11; he went to church and Sunday school every Sunday with his grandmother. I’m not sure why he went with his Grandma and not his parents; that part makes no sense, but let me continue. He noticed an usual pattern that he just couldn’t explain, but he grew to just accept it. Granny, as he called his grandma, wouldn’t allow her grandchildren to listen to regular radio [secular music] when they turned on to “church street”. She made it a high priority to change the station or have one of the other older grandchildren do it for her. What was it about the music? What was it about this street? How did the 2 relate? Why is this accepted?
Could it be there was something sacred about getting closer to the church? What would happen if we didn’t change the station? Could we not attend church that Sunday? Would the preacher know that we had been listening to the wrong station as we approached the sanctity of church street? These questions and many more over the years filled the mind of this young boy. Yet, it was accepted.
Observation 2: The Pulpit
The young boy attended a small country church that had what’s called a pulpit. It’s the platform from which the minister (pastor) gives his messages. He noticed that children were never allowed to step foot on the platform, the pulpit. Woe to any child who ever steps on that platform; trouble is just seconds away. Week after week, fear filled his mind as any child got within feet of the stairs giving access to the pulpit. After some time the young boy noticed that not many grown-ups could step on the pulpit or “in the pulpit” as adults would say. Doing so would result in major repercussions, so the little boy was taught. Seems that this too was just acceptable behavior. Again, what was it about little feet? What would happen if someone stepped on the platform? Would they break a leg? Would they disintegrate and vanish like on cartoons? Why was this so important that no one “unauthorized” could walk across this platform? Yet, it was accepted without any questions.
Observation 3: The Communion Table
The young boy noticed many patterns that needed an explanation, but never got. He, like everyone else, just accepted it the way it was. What could be wrong with that?
Sunday after Sunday after Sunday, he tried to make heads or tails out of a phrase he read in church service. Here it is, “This Do In Remembrance of Me”. Why was this placed on a table and who writes sentences like that? Why doesn’t it read, “do this in remembrance of me”, whatever “it” is. That would make better sense. The boy thought and thought, what an odd statement, but everyone else seems to be okay with it. The statement itself was the oddest part about this table. The table, called a communion table, is untouchable. No one was permitted to touch it even accidentally. Did Jesus Himself lie on this table? Why was this table so important? Did that table hold some power that made sure the church remained a church? Needless to say, the young boy never touched the table, never placed a hand on it. To this day, maybe that’s why this young boy still has both of his hands; just a thought.
What was it with church street, the pulpit and the communion table that made them so sacred or off limits? Do you really know or do you think you know? What common observations have you been holding on to? Do you think prayer is limited to kneeing on just 1 knee? Are there only 10 major sins, the 10 commandments? Is the King James Bible the only bible we can read? The list of “common” observations can be unending. Will you be like this young boy and everyone else and just accept it as the way it is? Stay with me throughout this message series, Holy Is Not What You Think, and find out why accepting it the way it always was won’t work in your life today.
Question: what common observations do you have, but have never been given an explanation to? Leave a comment below.
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