Clutter

In the book "Simple Church" the writers make the following observation from Mark chapter 11 and the cleaning project that Jesus undertook in that passage:

"Many of our churches have become cluttered. So cluttered that people have a difficult time encountering the simple and powerful message of Christ. So cluttered that many people are busy doing church instead of being the church."

How easy it is to see it -(clutter) in other people's church. How clear it is when you see other churches that are so busy doing church that the people have no time to consider what it really means to be the church. But when you bring the focus home, to your own local church. It's complicated and confusing. It's hard to identify and even harder to clean up. And sadly, because of all that, we as church leaders are handicapped and reticent to move. And so years go by and people sink into ruts and yes we rescue some but in the end we lose way to much. So what's the answer?

I'm thinking the answer has been there all along. Why are we so afraid to pray the prayer - "God please show up at our church and clean it up. Get the clutter out and your Spirit in. Get the people out of the way that are in the way. Get our eyes back on what matters most. God show up in such a way that we become the church again, whatever that means and whatever it takes.

For the church there in Mark 11 the only ones that were bummed out by what Jesus did were those who were part of the clutter. Everyone else in that story celebrated this event. I don't know about you, I want to lead a clutter free church. And for that to be true I'm probaly going to have to pray that prayer... more than once.