Churches can’t fake this….

 

Just across our state line over in Weber City there once was a charming restaurant called Gasthaus Edelweiss that served homemade German food and I miss it terribly.  Their tiny place was cozy & quaint, replete with rustic furnishings and German folk music playing in the background, it was idyllic, but it was more than the delightful decor that captivated me -- there was a substantial quality there that drew me in.

If you never made it there to eat, their unique atmosphere had the right blend aesthetics & ambiance, the wife spoke with a thick German accent as she presented the menu with a vibrant flair, she had a feisty yet endearing-attitude while her husband, an Eastman retiree, rarely left the kitchen where he quietly cooked and cleaned.  Their food was always amazing and I know the real deal when it comes to European cuisine, having eaten plenty of it my whole entire life, my mother-in-law is from Germany and my maternal-grandparents were first generation immigrants whose parents emigrated from Germany and Bohemia.  

Why was this enchanting restaurant so special to me?  Authenticity is what really describes the experience of Gasthaus Edelweiss, their food and the folks running it and their authenticity attracted me and brought me back, their authenticity was why my wife and I loved to take friends and family there and it’s why we miss it and still talk about it long after their restaurant closed.  Other than the closing of their doors, I wish more people could say the same about their experience with church because authenticity is the secret “ingredient” that’s missing in too many churches these days.  

Churches can imitate efforts at generating gatherings or emulate events engineered to wow or dazzle and they can even fabricate circumstances and experiences that are lively or enticing, but churches can’t fake authenticity.  When we run our churches like they are another division of some business or when we focus on pleasing our “customers,” we forfeit authenticity -- I’m all about being attractive to visitors, but what is it exactly we are inviting people to?  

We somehow mistake church for the clothes we wear on Sunday, the pews we sit in, the lightshow & presentation or the name over the door, but in our pursuit of the externals instead of the eternals, we’ve taken our eyes off of Jesus, His Word, and the power of participating with His community.  There’s a reason why so many spiritually-wounded people are cynical, jaded, and skeptical of organized religion, it’s because there's a difference between going to church and being the church.  There is no saccharin-sugar-substitute for feeling cared for, cared about, and loved through real friendships, relationships, or mutually edifying and encouraging each other, or mentoring and growing together, none of these community based essentials can be fabricated or faked.  

When it comes to church-life too often we try to find spiritual satisfaction with microwaved meals or settling for grocery store aisle samples instead of savoring the banquet God has in mind for us; maybe if we focused on being more authentic we could set a table people would long for and miss when they were away, as they say, the proof is in the pudding, “Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good!  Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him!” (Ps 34:8)

Overcoming hypocrisy/smashing church-masks

 

Sadly, religion seems like a magnet for phony people -- ironically, most hypocrites are also judgmental.  I can’t stomach fake christians because Hypocrisy provides people an excuse for unbelief in a world already struggling to believe. 

Stage actors in ancient Greece (called hypocrites) wore masks when they performed; “hypocrite” literally meant “An interpreter from underneath.” Jesus took a technical term hundreds of years old and repurposed it when He coined “hypocrite” to describe “supposed” people of faith who hid their misbehavior behind the trappings of their religion. 

How do we avoid being hypocrites?  Don’t pretend to be something you aren’t and embrace vulnerability, taking into account Eccl 7:20, “Surely there is not a righteous man on earth who does good and never sins.” 

The clearer you can see your own imperfections the less likely you are to be blinded by self-righteousness — the less aware you are of your own shortcomings the easier it is to focus on the flaws of others.

I used to worry about what other church members thought of me, as in, if they knew I wasn’t an infallible perfect christian, then they wouldn’t want me around -- they certainly wouldn’t have me as their preacher.  When we project a fake version of ourselves just to be accepted, that mission fails miserably. 

Pretending we are perfect is a lie, namely because we aren’t.  Also, pretending keeps people away who are honest with their own fallibilities, we are effectively saying, “You won’t fit in here,” then they can’t see a place at the Table for themselves.  Furthermore, when we pretend to be perfect and our imperfections eventually ooze out, it drives people away, destroying the reputation of the church.  

Jesus clarified His mission: Reach sinners, “And as he reclined at table in his house, many tax collectors and sinners were reclining with Jesus and his disciples, for there were many who followed him.  And the scribes of the Pharisees, when they saw that he was eating with sinners and tax collectors, said to his disciples, “Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?”  And when Jesus heard it, he said to them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.”  (Mk 2:15-17)

By the way, we all sin. 

When James wrote, “Confess your sins” it wasn’t as if church members could erase each other's sins -- James wasn’t suggesting we would be forgiven by God by confessing to another human.  “Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.” (James 5:16)  James was encouraging us to take off our “church mask” and to be vulnerable, to basically “keep it real.”  

In other words, relationships are strengthened and people live better lives when they accept mutual accountability and share their struggles instead of hiding them.  No one is perfect, yet for some reason too many christians attempt to project a vision of perfection, much to the detriment of the Body.

I’m not suggesting that we make excuses, forfeit our integrity, cast off all restraint, give up trying our best to live up to our Biblical standards, or that we cease pursuing spiritual maturity & God’s transformation.  I am saying, we don’t have the ability to be 100% flawless in this lifetime, it’s healthier to come to grips with our struggle and simply be honest about it than it is to hide behind a mask -- we need to be comfortable in our own skin and smash our church masks.  

Originally published 5/27/23 in the Kingsport Times News:

https://www.timesnews.net/living/features/craig-cottongim-pretending-we-are-perfect-is-a-lie/article_f72ded64-e513-11ed-b2a6-07fd0a51e9a7.html