A short email about a really big problem

Dear New Hope,

The “blind spot” is that place by your back bumper where your mirrors are no help in identifying a car right next to you. As my daughter learns to drive, looking over your shoulder to “the blind spot” is critical for safe driving.

The “blind spot” is also a term we use about issues in someone’s life that they don’t see. Indeed, they can’t see it without someone helping them. They are attitudes (like defensiveness) that everyone sees except the guilty party. They are behaviors that are dysfunctional or sinful, but the person either refuses to acknowledge or blatantly ignores. In other words, it is possible to be completely culpable of a sinful pattern of behavior and simultaneously be unaware of your guilt.

Every generation and culture has blind spots. In order to see blind spots in our generation, we often need a prophetic voice from outside our generation to speak with biblical clarity and wisdom. C.S. Lewis writes: “We all, therefore, need the books that will correct the characteristic mistakes of our own period. And that means the old books.” In other words, when we read books by godly men from former generations, they often address cultural issues in a way that nobody in our time period is doing. And just like driving, we learn to “turn our heads” and see our blind spot before we carelessly wreck our soul.

Case in point: Our treatment of assembling for Sabbath worship. Listen to the voice of J.C. Ryle, a minister from England over 150 years ago, who writes about an issue that helps us see a blind spot in American Christianity:
“Be regular in going to the house of God whenever it is open for prayer and preaching and it is in your power to attend. Be regular in keeping the Lord’s day holy and determine God’s day out of the seven shall henceforth always be given to its rightful owner… Let nothing ever tempt you to become a Sabbath breaker. A spirit of disregard for this holy day is growing up amongst us with fearful rapidity…Begin with not honoring God’s day and you will soon not honor God’s house; cease to honor God’s house and you will soon cease to honor God’s book; cease to honor God’s book and by-and-by you will give God no honor at all… Honor it by a regular attendance at someplace where the gospel is preached. Settle down under a faithful ministry, and once settled, let your place in church never be empty.”

Thank you, Mr. Ryle. You have helped us see a blind spot in America.

Let me take off my “pastor hat” and write to you as a friend and co-heir of the grace of Christ. I grew up in a family who was firmly committed to assemble weekly in the local church. There was no priority higher than Sunday morning.

• Sports teams? Not a chance we would ever prioritize a practice or game on Sunday above the gathering with the saints.
• Busyness of life? Not a snowballs chance that a “busy week” would ever give permission to miss a Sunday morning. Just the opposite! A busy week was all the more reason we needed to labor to enter His rest!
• Sick? God knows that I tried that excuse, and my parents would call my bluff because the claim to “be sick” was most often a disguised attempt to “skip church.”

Fast forward 35 years. I am amazed at how relevant Ryle’s voice is about the American blind spot of Sunday gatherings: “A spirit of disregard for this holy day is growing up amongst us with fearful rapidity!” Does your heart not testify that this is true? Does experience not tell you that (outside of Easter Sunday) there is a casual, careless, and general disregard for Sunday gatherings? The priority of the local assembly for many has been pushed down the list to “optional” and nearly “inconsequential”. (Right about now, some will stop reading…because it gets uncomfortable when a finger is placed on our blind spots!) Our staff hears every excuse in the book:

• I’ve been busy.
• I needed a morning to rest.
• Our sports team moved practice to Sunday mornings.
• I didn’t feel like it.
• Nobody cares if I’m there.
• I had the sniffles.

My friend, have you forgotten that we are in a spiritual war and that Satan has marked us out for execution? The easiest way for him to execute a believer is to get them isolated. And the first step of isolation is to get us separated from the church assembly.

My friend, this summer in Northern Michigan was gorgeous! But fall is here. New Hope is blessed with people who never miss a Sunday. These folks form the spine and structural support of our church – and for that we are grateful! But, we have many who have “checked out” for the summer, attended when convenient, and are squarely in the cross hairs of an enemy whose primary desire is to execute them. With September upon us, and sports teams starting, it is time for “check in”, renew our priorities, and make a commitment to practical action steps from JC Ryle:

• Be regular in going to the house of God whenever it is open for prayer and preaching. (This involves a weekly Sunday commitment and at minimum a monthly prayer commitment).
• Determine 1 day out of the seven shall henceforth always be given to its rightful owner. (This involves saying NO to other opportunities because you have already said YES to a higher, more important priority).
• Let nothing ever tempt you to become a Sabbath breaker. (Not sports; not busyness; not laundry or housework.)
• Honor it by a regular attendance at someplace where the gospel is preached. (New Hope strives to be that place where Christ is proclaimed every Sunday).
• Settle down under a faithful ministry, and once settled, let your place in church never be empty. (In other words, if your seat has been empty during the summer, now is the time to gather to the house of the Lord.)

Forgive my candidness. When correction is needed, I seek to do so with a spirit of gentleness. But I recognize that correction is often God’s instrument to help us see blind spots and bring greater accountability and growth to our lives. As your pastor, know that I love you dearly.

Craig Trierweiler