Something happened in Christianity around 100 years ago. Churches got big, started offering programs and services, then followers started getting lazy. We began tricking ourselves into thinking Christianity was more about what we could consume rather than what role God played in our lives. The situation of the current church is complex since we have some churches steeped in decades-young tradition, others obsessed with public image, and yet others pursuing whatever new programs and fads are making the rounds of religious circles. We can talk all day about the problems with churches, but what impact does this have on believers? More importantly, how does this create Christians foreign to the concepts of Christ's followers we find in the Gospels?

This is the brief message and baby dedication for the Sodergren, Robertson, and Stanley families held on May 26, 2024!

Heresies were everywhere during the time of the early church. There were all kinds of odd ideas about the mechanics of salvation. While we've worked through a lot of the "brain work" of theology today, there are still widely differing perspectives on the scriptures. This makes sense when you consider the infinite nature of God and the finite nature of our minds. The importance in recognizing heretical differences between different believers is in understanding how easy we, too, can fall into "bad theology". At the least, this can lead to us having twisted views of our relationship with God. At worst, it can lead to a dark judgmentalism where we start doubting the "theological purity" of those around us. The lesson for us, today, is to guard our hearts against blindly following the philosophies of men, but also to be slow to judge the theologies of others. We may find out that our own beliefs are just as divergent from the truth as other believers that we would call "heretic".

The early church was considered weird by many of their contemporaries. They were seen as being somewhat atheistic (ironically), cannibalistic, and even incestuous. These accusations were unfounded, but a brief glance at scripture will provide some explanation for their misjudgment. We tend to do the same to our fellow Christians today when we see customs and practices different from our own. Like the early Christians, some of these "weird" religious behaviors are rooted in scripture. They can become a problem when they overshadow the God they are designed to reflect, but by themselves they can be powerful ways of helping us express our faith.

What actually is "normal" in context of religion? Is any Christian practice "normal" in the broader context of Christianity's history? Even the most ancient denominations and Christian traditions have been tweaked and updated with the times. It can be easy for us to think that what we do is something "more appropriate" than others, but we all have our quirks. The real question is whether our religious practices are supporting the ultimate goal of a church experience: the building up of one another.