Linchpin

I’m troubled… Early Christianity as evidenced Scripturally by the Book of Acts cut across races, social strata, economic, class distinctions and gender. So based in observation of society, why do most in modern American churches seem totally content to stay within a cloistered / segregated congregations only on Sundays (sometimes Saturdays) based many on these distinctions but not theological ones which are valid? Why are more Christians not reaching out to people in other religions? Why don’t more white people attend theologically sound black congregations and more black people attend theologically sound white congregations? Why has culture integrated races better than the church has many times? Why do affluent people only remain within their affluent cliques in our churches and the bikers remain within the biker cliques? Why do the mainline people only go to the mainline churches? Why don’t more of the mainline congregants attend the urban churches more? Why is the church still divided across meaningless social distinctions (when in the Kingdom they are irrelevant)?  If all will be equal within the Kingdom now that Christ has arrived at least in part why the prejudice or partiality (James 2)? Why if we are called to unity, why do these divisions still purposely exist in the universal body if we call ourselves followers of Christ Jesus? Segregation and division does not equal to unity. Something is incongruous here. If we truly have the Spirit of God within us…as all Christians should, why doesn’t this bother more people more intensely? God is a God of unity and order (1 Corinthians 1:10, 1 Corinthians 12:12-26, 1 Corinthians 14:33) which is so abundantly illustrated in the New Testament (and Old). Then we wonder why our society crumbles around us when the Church is suppose to be salt and light to the world but ends up being a ballast or anchor.

Where is our linchpin that is suppose to be holding us all together in unity? Where is the linchpin that holds all the spokes of the wheel at center? Perhaps the linchpin isn't really in our lives as we say? Where is Christ if we are to be in unity? I suggest that He is absent in many cases and it is not for lack of Him having tried to get into people's lives but rather because people reject Him in favor of their sins and idolatry.

I am troubled. So I pray.