The Danger of Accepting Every Committee, Cause, and Cake Sale in the Church

1 Peter 2:1

Rid yourselves, therefore, of all malice, and all guile, insincerity, envy, and all slander.

According to the Google, “insincerity” is, surprise, surprise, ‘the quality of being insincere’.  To be ‘insincere’ is a lack of honesty in the expression of actual feeling, or being hypocritical. 

I was assigned to a prayer group in Seminary and we talked about this a little bit.  It concerned praying for missionaries.  The suggestion was made to pray for all missionaries everywhere, a blanket prayer that covered all the bases, just in case.  Insincerity as a matter of convenience.  “Lord, I pray for everything, everywhere, amen.” 

It is very easy to look at insincerity from the point of view of the callous or hypocritical leader who has designs on being big in the game, instead of looking after the sheep the Lord has commended to their care.  But how about a different angle?

A lack of honesty in the expression of an actual feeling can be stock in trade for some Christians.  Consider the good woman who has sacrificed time with husband and children to respond to every call for committee, cause, and cake sale that her church has to offer?  When the pastor, who has internalized the wisdom that if you want something done, ask a busy person, comes walking down the aisle during the passing of the peace in the worship service, with the straight back and focused walk of the recruiter, making eye contact with the good woman, and she smiles, because that is what she was trained to do…but behind the expression is a mountain of insincerity, how does one get rid of that?

“She should be strong enough to say ‘no’.”  Wonderful sentiment, but not particularly realistic.  The pastor, the church, they all contribute to this kind of insincerity, choosing work over the nourishment of the soul.  I should know, I have been the recruiter during the passing of the peace, but work very hard now to be the nurturer during the passing of the peace.

But getting rid of insincerity might mean that not all the work gets done.  And that is okay too.