What If ... ... ?

What if... ... ?  This is a question often asked in the UK when trying to arrange some outing or inviting friends to a BBQ in the summer - what if it rains?  We always feel the need to make some other arrangements just in case the weather is not on our side that particular day.  It's not just the weather of course that involves thinking of contingency plans in the event that our ideas and organising skills don't go to plan.


Because of the winter storms and the problem with the tiles on the roof of our house and the subsequent leak (as mentioned in previous posts) we have had to deal with a little problem of damp in one of the bedrooms.  It was only one wall that was affected and so we really decided that a couple of tester pots of paint of the same colour would work out cheaper than buying a larger pot.  I really didn't want to have to buy a 5 litre pot of paint to paint just one small wall.  It was a well known brand and so we thought that we would be able to get it easily.  We did raise the question 'What if ...   we can't get a matching colour?  What will we do?'  We carefully considered alternatives - that wall could become a feature wall of a contrasting colour or we could just paint all of the bedroom walls a different colour.  As it turned out it wasn't that easy but eventually we did manage to get what we were looking for, after trying a few DIY stores. So the wall has been restored to its former condition.

This week I read an article about someone who had been part of the set up at Mars Hill mega-church based in Seattle.  The church now has 14,000 members in 15 locations in 5 states.  The article quoted something Mark Driscoll, one of the co-founders of the church, said.

Mark Driscoll

'What if the church (referring to Mars Hill church) stopped growing?  What if we shrunk?  What if everything fell apart?  What if half the staff left?  Would I still worship Jesus or would I be a total despairing mess?'

I am not interested in discussing mega-churches or anything about Mark Driscoll.  Some like him and his books and some don't but I kept thinking about this quote.  What if ......?  


Many cannot understand people like me who no longer participate in any organised form of church yet still claim to be just as sincere in their faith and commitment to God.  Once you really get hold of the truth that God really is everywhere, that the Holy Spirit dwells within us and that the Kingdom is here with us now, then there really is no problem.  Last year, after two and a half years of being unemployed my son (who shares the house with me) got a job where his working hours include every weekend - Friday, Saturday and Sunday.  So our weekend is now on a Monday and Tuesday.  On Tuesday we have a full roast dinner, sit together to eat, watch a DVD together and chat, often about spiritual things.  Our time together on our 'Sunday' is possibly more relaxed than for many who attend some place of worship.  We spend real time together, chilling and chatting - our day of rest. 



The danger lies when people think that the organised church way of doing things is the only way and that without it they would be lost.  What if ... ... ? illness meant that you could no longer go to the building? you had no means of getting there? (here in Yeovil there are no buses on a Sunday and not everyone has their own transport) you had a job where working on a Sunday was a requirement?  or many more 'what if?' situations you might think of.  Like Mark Driscoll asks - would you still worship or would you be a despairing mess?  The organised church for many is a very helpful means of connecting with God and others but there is the danger that the means actually becomes the end in itself.  And then the worship is not so much about God but about the system, the means that we use to connect with Him.  Jesus would meet people in their homes or in the countryside all the time more than in the synagogue on the Sabbath.  He would talk to anyone and everyone regardless or status, gender, nationality or work and not just Jews who conformed to religious rules and expectations.  His friends were from many varied walks of life, different personalities.  How many Christians have close friendships with people who are not within the church set up?  He worshipped his Father in the everyday things, using them as illustrations in his conversations about God and Kingdom things.  He showed us how to worship God and not the system.  What if ... ... for whatever reason we were denied the church system as we know it today, what if .. ... the whole system crumbled, would we still be Christians?  Would we still make time for God, connect with Him and follow His ways?  What if ... ... we understood that God still exists outside of the system and that He's just as real and loving and wanting a relationship with us?  What if ... ... once again He ripped the 'curtain of the temple' and chose to show Himself outside of the confines of the religious building?  Who would follow Him?  We must not replace God with the religious system, however helpful it may be - it is not the be all and end all of things.  The system is not God, only a means to God, only one path of many.