Once upon a time, there was a man who lived in a small, rural town. He attended the local church for years, and while it wasn't the biggest or most extravagant church, he loved the sense of community and the personal relationships he had with the pastor and the other members.
One day, he heard about a megachurch in the city, a place with state-of-the-art facilities, a rock band, and a dynamic pastor with a massive following. The man was intrigued and decided to visit the megachurch for a service.
As he entered the massive building, he was overwhelmed by the sheer size and grandeur of the place. The music was loud and electrifying, and the lighting and special effects were like nothing he had ever seen before. The pastor's sermon was also entertaining, and the man found himself caught up in the excitement of the crowd.
However, as the weeks went on, the man started to feel lost in the sea of faces at the megachurch. Despite his regular tithing, no one seemed to know his name, and he didn't feel the same sense of community and personal connection that he had at his local church.
Years went by, and the man continued to attend the megachurch, even though he felt more like a number than a person. When he passed away, his family, who lived far away, organized his funeral through the megachurch. But the pastor who gave the eulogy didn't know the man personally, and his funeral and burial felt mass produced and impersonal.
The man's family left the megachurch feeling like they had buried a stranger. In the end, the man had given up the sense of community and personal connection he had in his local church for a religious experience that left him feeling empty and alone.
In the end, it is not the size of the church or the flashiness of the service that matters, but the personal relationships we build within our faith community. It is in the small, local churches where we can truly be known and loved, and where we can form lasting connections with others who share our beliefs. So let us not be tempted by the glitz and glamour of megachurches, but instead cherish the bonds we form in the communities where we live and worship.
Pastor Loren
Yorumlar