Be rid of attendance-optional Christians

A while ago I was behind a car with this bumper sticker: Where are we headed … and what am I doing in this hand basket?

I thought it was pretty funny at the time, but I’m not laughing any more. We’re not only heading for hell in a hand basket, we’ve strapped on rocket boosters to get us there faster.

With all the hue and cry to take Christ out of Christmas, get the Ten Commandments out of sight, “In God We Trust” off our currency and “Under God” out of our Pledge of Allegiance, I’m wondering how we ever got to this place in time.

In our little rural fifth-grade classroom in 1962, each day began with the Pledge of Allegiance, followed by a short reading from the Bible, followed by the Lord’s Prayer. Everyone in the class took a turn leading, and no one had any traumas about it.

Nearly every one of the kids in my class also attended church on Sundays or at least went to Sunday school. Can the same be said about the children of today?

As a Sunday school teacher, I’ve heard so many excuses from boomer parents who don’t attend church that I’d be a millionaire if I had a nickel for each one. The overwhelming conclusion is: They were forced to attend church and Sunday school when they were kids and they’re not submitting their children to this torture.

They’re letting the kids decide for themselves. I ask, “When?”

The kids need to be exposed to church and Sunday school in order to develop a frame of reference on which to base a wise decision. If, for example, you’re planning a ski trip on Sunday morning, it’s not fair to say to the kids, “OK, I’m going skiing; do you want to come with me or go to Sunday school?” (I’m witness that this has actually occurred, and on more than one occasion.)

Somewhere along the way, we Christians dropped the ball. How could this happen?

The answer came to me this past December. Our pastor received several calls, wanting to know if we’d be holding church services on the 25th, it being Christmas Day. His answer was, “Of course we are; hope to see you there!”

Yet across the state and country, churches were closed. Megachurches weren’t sure they’d get the big numbers in and it wasn’t worth it to open their doors otherwise. Others said it was a time for people to be home with their families. Hello?! What better place for the family to be together than in church, and on the day Christians celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ!

Jesus tells us in Matthew 5:14, “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden” (New Revised Standard Version). And in verse 16, “Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.”

There’s an old joke making the rounds again: two senators were debating religion and one said to the other, “I bet you $100 you can’t say the Lord’s Prayer.” The first replied, “You’re on! ‘Now I lay me down to sleep …'” The second senator sighed, handed him a $100 bill and said, “I never figured you for a religious man.”

This is no laughing matter. Christianity is sporting a huge black eye now, and Christians need to stand together to get the truth out.

Sheldon Van Auken cuts right to the chase. In “A Severe Mercy,” he writes, “The best argument for Christianity is Christians: their joy, their certainty, their completeness; but the strongest argument against Christianity is also Christians – when they are somber and joyless, when they are self-righteous and smug in complacent consecration, when they are narrow and repressive, then Christianity dies a thousand deaths.”

NBC is running a new show titled “The Book of Daniel.” The lead character, Daniel Webster, is a drug-addicted Episcopal minister; his wife is an alcoholic; his 23-year-old son is a homosexual Republican; his 16-year-old-daughter is a drug dealer; his lesbian secretary is sleeping with his sister-in-law. The show is being promoted as “a serious drama about Christian people and the Christian faith.” NBC and the mainstream media call it “edgy,” “challenging” and “courageous.”

This is not courageous, nor is it an accurate portrayal of Christianity; it’s blasphemy. And until Christians take a stand against such corrupt portrayals of Jesus and Christianity, our national and moral decline is pretty much assured.

It’s time to let the Light shine.

Brenda J. Norris is choir director and Sunday school assistant at the West Lubec Methodist Church.