Exploring 5 What-Ifs to Alter (and Altar) the Way You Do Church

The morning was lovely.  Worship drew you near to God.  The pastor was extra clear and expressive in teaching and preaching from Scripture. Some aspects of the hour and fifteen minutes sitting in your pew (or considerably less time if you were late!) were less enjoyable than others. But this Sunday you got all the blanks filled in from the lesson and found most of the points to be relevant to where you are in life.  You even noticed something was happening on a soul level.  And when the speaker sat down and the worship leader stood for closing music, much stirred inside of you.

You responded by singing along with the congregation, expressing with meaning from your heart the words to the worship tune.  It was a holy time, and the perfect song was chosen to wrap up the sermon's closing, putting a giant exclamation point on the morning's profound lesson.

In the "olden days" -- well, the '60s, '70s and '80s -- church services included a time to respond to what was spoken.  Yes, it could be quite dramatic and drawn out, with music playing and people walking down the aisles to show they wanted to move toward God in some way.  A very public response, but such a time was offered, nonetheless.  A call to the altar, it was -- a call to kneel, to turn to and return to God.  We took literally the words to the song "Just As I Am," by stepping down the aisle to, "Oh, Lamb of God, I come, I come."  

I confess I sometimes miss that space offered to respond.

I gave myself such a space to respond recently at the end of a wonderful sermon and asked, "What does what I have just heard cause me to want to pray?" As I uttered that very personal prayer,  a time of relating with God, some what-ifs came to mind.

1) What if we were to bring back the altar call?  (Please, hear me out here for the next "what-if.")

2) What if the altar we are called to is the altar inside the temple, which is each of us, that innermost, sacred place where Christ dwells and communes with us?

3) What if we actually came to Christ at that altar "just as we are," having listened then expressing to Him our response -- our real, raw response -- statements that may be beautiful, unattractive, loving, angry, questioning, yielding, resisting, statements such as these:

     "Jesus, I just can't imagine loving You like you've commanded in Your word.  How I long to love You more.  Grow my love for You."  

    "None of this feels true to me right now because I am hurting so badly."

     "It seems like everyone else is close to You while I'm on the outside."
  
   "I don't even want you near me right now because of what you've allowed to happen to me and my loved ones." 

     "Honestly, I know I should be moved by all that was shared this morning, but I'm just super excited about having lunch with friends."

4) What if we then remained at "the altar" undisturbed, quietly sensing Jesus with each of us, noticing Him with us in that space inside receiving and responding back to us exactly as we are?

5) What if we then, having sat with Jesus in the truth of where each of us is,  joined in chorus, worshiping and entrusting ourselves and each other to the only One who can bring about change within?

Whether such a time is offered in your church service or not, notice what stirs inside you and what the events of the morning urge you to say back to God.  Express that response to Him.  Then allow Him to be with you in that space, and notice how He is toward you.  It might take two minutes of your morning but will completely alter the way you do church.

Oh, and enjoy that lunch with friends!  

Diane Mann, 2015