God is Not Religious

Went to church. Sang a song.
Heard a sermon. Said a prayer.
Drank the wine. Ate the bread.
Passed the plate. Shook some hands.
Church is over. I feel better.
Where's the remote?

Zondervan's Pictorial Bible Dictionary defines religion as "the services and rituals and rules by which faith in and devotion to God" is expressed. The word comes from a Latin root meaning "to hold back or restrain."

Services. Rituals. Rules.

Check 'em off.
Get 'em done.
Just be sure,
to have no fun!

But Jesus calls his children to a full life. He said that worship of God must be in spirit and truth. In other words, he wants us to Get Real! with our faith. He wants us to come with a seeking heart.

In his devotional series Invading the Privacy of God, Cec Murphey writes about prayer as an adventure. Cec addresses God by titles that relate to his personal interaction with God. Bible stories and prayer are connected to daily living.

For instance, when struggling to hear God's voice like Elijah did in the wilderness, Cec addressed God as The God of Whispers. The Lord became The Wholly Other when Cec related to God's unexplainable love for the children of Israel in the Old Testament. And when Cec wrestled with the tyrany of the urgent, just as Abraham did centuries ago, he prayed to The Big Time Operator.

Cec gets it. God isn't about rituals and rules. God is relational.

The Zondervan dictionary says that the Old Testament has no word for religion. The words translated fear and worship refer to attitudes of the mind and acts of adoration.

Attitudes. Actions. I like that.

Went to church,
because I need my Christian family.
Sang a song,
to celebrate my God.
Listened to the preacher
connect the Word to daily living.
Talked to the Lord,
and listened for his voice.
Took the bread and wine,
to remember what he did.
Passed the plate,
after I gave to God's work.
Shook a lot of hands,
and hugged a friend or two.

Church is not over.
I take it with me as I go.

Gettin' Real!
Melodie

Quote above taken from Zondervan's Pictorial Bible Dictionary by Merrill C. Tinney. Copyright (c) 1975, 1976 by The Zondervan Corporation. Used by permission of Zondervan.