discomfort

False Danger #5: Worship That Isn't Comfortable

This danger assumes that most people come to church for comfort which means we should do all we can do to make them feel comfortable.  That's an unfortunate correlation. - Mark Labberton, The Dangerous Act of Worship

My doctor is after me about my cholesterol level.  I bet the idiot that discovered the cholesterol level is the same person that come up with the windchill factor.  My mama's been cold ever since.  Now they done come up with the heat index, just stuff to make us uncomfortable, us good old boys. - Jerry Clower, Stories from Home

An undertone to American sensibilities is this we have the right to be comfortable.  When we're not, it gets ugly.  We want to have every morsel cooked to order, even in God's presence.

But the Church is not Burger King.

God wants to transform us more into his likeness through worship, and know what?  That's not going to be comfortable.  It takes patience and a lot of grace.  It takes sacrificing our right to be comfortable.  We have to be open to trying new things.  And I can't promise that you'll always like it if you try it, but we do have to be willing to lay down our comfort on the altar if we want to be involved in real, life-changing worship. 

I tell my elementary students all the time that anything that makes you stronger is going to be hard.  Adults need to be reminded of this, too.  We can't expect to come along and loaf our way through an encounter with the living God.