Clean Church

You wouldn’t have noticed.
No, you wouldn’t.

By that I was referring to the increasingly plain and painful fact, that sitting thru Sunday services, on line or in person, you wouldn’t have noticed that you are living in a place that has gone through cataclysmic changes in two years!

I am not even thinking of the sermons—those are already highly sanitized.

I am not also thinking of the hymns—you wouldn’t find mild ones like “Sing Hallelujah to the Lord”, for a long time already.

I am thinking of run-of-the-mill items like announcements and prayers, not even pastoral prayers.

Recall when was the last time you heard prayers that might include:
“Father, you are watching the children of men from heaven, and see all the natural disasters and man-made calamities. The evil-doers laugh at us, saying that the God we trust is sleeping. They even claim that there is no such God at all, otherwise how could He stand by and watch with folded arms?”
“Father, the righteous are in jail, the arrogant and the deceitful are in high positions. ‘Peace, peace, peace’ becomes the safest blessing. From the eldest to the youngest, the only way is peace and joy!”

Or for that matter, like this:
“Let us remember those being oppressed by the system, those without freedom, without human rights, without dignity, without fair trial. We ask you, Father, reveal yourself as the Lord of Righteousness, the One in whom we can trust.”

Churches dare not even recite Is 61:1-2:
The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me,
because the LORD has anointed me
to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
to proclaim freedom for the captives
and release from darkness for the prisoners,
to proclaim the year of the LORD’s favor
and the day of vengeance of our God,
to comfort all who mourn. (NIV)

Let alone to use the verses in public prayers during worship.

Announcement items you see weekly in the bulletins probably devoid of terms like prison ministry, democracy, fairness, emigration, government, university campuses, etc.

Bulletins have been sanitised.
Pure you might say.
As in pure gospel.

What else you would expect?
In a church that is purely dedicated to the Great Commission, everything else, no matter how legit or relevant, is but impurities.
A distraction.

Democracy?
Irrelevant to saving of souls.
Distraction.

Justice?
God is on the throne and will bring eternal judgment. Temporal.
Another distraction.

Society grievances?
Fire tests purity of Gold.
Trust issue.
Also distraction.

Government accountability?
Render to Caesar what is Caesar’s.
Focus on core mission.
Still distraction.

What then are pure and not distractions?
Annual Mother’s Day Outreach.
Re-election of Directors.
Christmas Family Dinner.
Mission Conference.
Bible Memorisation Contest.
Perhaps the innovative July 1 Church Picnic and Retreat in a name brand seminary on the islands!

These are legit bulletin items.
Prayer items too.
Our life is already tough. No need to rub salts into wounds.
Besides don’t rock the boat, Paul says, so we can preach the Gospel.

Pure Gospel.

Church now reflects society, no longer shapes it.

Our lives are already tough.
Unemployment. Inflation. Housing issues.
Let’s just talk about food, travel, housing and maybe more consumption vouchers。

Clean society.
Clean church.
Pure church.
Pure Gospel.