Church is boring. At least that’s what a lot of people think.
Have you ever been bored in church? (If you are thinking “Yes, it was while you were preaching,” then just keep those nasty comments to yourself!). Certainly we have all had moments when we were bored in church and found ourselves counting the number of lights in the sanctuary or daydreaming or making a “to do” list or snoring in our sermon-induced sleep. Plenty of people probably have wanted to say something along these next lines but just weren’t willing to be this honest:
Parent: “Well, how did you like Sunday School?”
Child: “I didn’t like it a bit. It was horrid. …Mr. Bell made an awfully long prayer. I would have been dreadfully tired before he got through if I hadn’t been sitting by that window. But it looked right out on the Lake… so I just gazed at that and imagined all sorts of splendid things.”
P: “You shouldn’t have done anything of the sort. You should have listened to Mr. Bell.”
C: “But he wasn’t talking to me. He was talking to God and he didn’t seem to be very much interested in it, either. I think he thought God was too far off to make it worthwhile.”
Ha! Out of the mouths of babes! I’ve had those same feelings before, too! But also I wonder how often do my prayers seem contrived and disinterested like Mr. Bell’s? I want a powerful prayer life that is focused on a relationship with God, rather than just using Him as an impersonal wishlist provider.
The child ends with – “I said a little prayer myself, though. There was a long row of white birches hanging over the lake and the sunshine fell down through them, ‘way, ‘way down, deep into the water. …It gave me a thrill and I just said, ‘Thank you for it, God,’ two or three times.”
God, may my prayers be like that – may they flow out of me as naturally as I breathe this air, and may it all be due to me seeing how You are working around me! Help me to never be disinterested in you or feel that you are too far away to be worthwhile.
(Quoted dialogue written about 100 years ago in the book “Anne of Green Gables.” Guess church has had the potential for being boring for a very long time.)