Minimum Maintenance Christianity
Ever seen someone try to get by with doing just the bare minimum? This is the grocery cashier who asks you if you’ve found everything alright, but then does nothing when you mention that you couldn’t locate the baking soda. This is the bus driver who opens the door at each stop because his job description says he must but ignores the person running to catch the bus before it drives away. This is the flight attendant who goes through the motions of the safety procedures but leaves you no better equipped to put on your oxygen mask than before you stepped aboard.
It might just be human nature to put forward as little effort as possible. We do what has to be done, but we are reluctant to live more deeply into a call or purpose because it just takes too much energy. We do what needs to be done to survive another day, and then we put our feet up.
For some of us, the Christian journey has become a “minimum maintenance” proposition. We believe there is a God out there, we know we should do a few good deeds now and then, we toss five bucks into the collection plate on occasion, but that’s pretty much it. We figure God will work it all out, so we don’t have to work at it at all.
This is a dangerous kind of faith…it’s a faith that opens the door to lots of sins of omission. Sins of omission are the good things, the right things, the important responsibilities, that we simply leave undone. We walk away from opportunities to believe more faithfully, love more wholeheartedly, and serve more sacrificially.
This Lent, our message series will point a mirror back at our tendency to try to skip out on these good (and challenging) opportunities. We will be pressed to connect with our enemies, get serious about our convictions, and withstand the pressures of society.
If you are ready to take your spiritual journey to a place of greater awareness and deeper trust, join us each Sunday morning of Lent for Minimum Maintenance Christianity.
March 1: Genesis 32 – Grasp, But Don’t Grapple
March 8: 1 Peter 2:2 – Come, But Don’t Crave
March 15: Exodus 31:12-17 – Do, But Don’t Be
March 22: Romans 12:9-21 – Tolerate, But Don’t Engage
March 29: Matthew 5:4 – Notice, But Don’t Mourn
April 5 (Palm Sunday): Luke 21:1-4 – Give, But Don’t Sacrifice
April 9 (Maundy Thursday): John 18-19 – Decide, but Don’t Endure *
April 12 (Easter): Revelation 20:1-6 – Agree, But Don’t Anticipate
*Worship at 4 PM, 6 PM, and 7:30 PM in the Loft
It might just be human nature to put forward as little effort as possible. We do what has to be done, but we are reluctant to live more deeply into a call or purpose because it just takes too much energy. We do what needs to be done to survive another day, and then we put our feet up.
For some of us, the Christian journey has become a “minimum maintenance” proposition. We believe there is a God out there, we know we should do a few good deeds now and then, we toss five bucks into the collection plate on occasion, but that’s pretty much it. We figure God will work it all out, so we don’t have to work at it at all.
This is a dangerous kind of faith…it’s a faith that opens the door to lots of sins of omission. Sins of omission are the good things, the right things, the important responsibilities, that we simply leave undone. We walk away from opportunities to believe more faithfully, love more wholeheartedly, and serve more sacrificially.
This Lent, our message series will point a mirror back at our tendency to try to skip out on these good (and challenging) opportunities. We will be pressed to connect with our enemies, get serious about our convictions, and withstand the pressures of society.
If you are ready to take your spiritual journey to a place of greater awareness and deeper trust, join us each Sunday morning of Lent for Minimum Maintenance Christianity.
March 1: Genesis 32 – Grasp, But Don’t Grapple
March 8: 1 Peter 2:2 – Come, But Don’t Crave
March 15: Exodus 31:12-17 – Do, But Don’t Be
March 22: Romans 12:9-21 – Tolerate, But Don’t Engage
March 29: Matthew 5:4 – Notice, But Don’t Mourn
April 5 (Palm Sunday): Luke 21:1-4 – Give, But Don’t Sacrifice
April 9 (Maundy Thursday): John 18-19 – Decide, but Don’t Endure *
April 12 (Easter): Revelation 20:1-6 – Agree, But Don’t Anticipate
*Worship at 4 PM, 6 PM, and 7:30 PM in the Loft