I love the term “practicing” religion. In part, because it implies that we can “perform” religion. And as crazy as that may sound, I have been in worship settings where it felt like we were performing. Where every step was perfectly choreographed, and it felt like making one wrong turn would ruin everything.
For those of you that have ever been involved in music, or sports, or theater, you know that there is a big difference between practicing and performing. (Allen Iverson’s infamous press conference might have just popped into your head, and/or Ted Lasso’s rendition of it). Practice is the place where you can work out the kinks. Where you can run that one line that you keep messing up over and over and over again until you get it right. Where you can take that tricky piece of the melody and slow it waaaay down, really picking apart the different notes and rhythms, before you eventually, slowly, speed it back up again. Practice is a time to experiment, to be messy, and unpolished, where you can work through the stuff that’s giving you trouble. You don’t need to be perfect when you practice, in fact, if you were perfect, there would be no need for you to practice in the first place!
And I love applying that way of thinking to religion. Church shouldn’t be a place where we come to be perfect in front of one another; a place where we perform our faith. Church should be a place where it’s okay to be messy and unpolished. A place where we can work through the stuff that’s giving us trouble, and to do it together. Where we don’t have to have it all figured out, and we can come exactly as we are. That’s part of why I love Bethlehem so much, because it’s a place where I know I don’t need to be perfect. In fact, I can guarantee that on any given Sunday I will make a multitude of mistakes and mess-ups – and that’s okay. Because we don’t come to church to be perfect. If we were perfect, we probably wouldn’t need to come to church at all. Church should be a place for all of us imperfect, works-in-progress to come and be in community with one another. So come as you are, as we practice what Jesus preaches.
Pastor Sam