Nonetheless, we believed that God was calling us toward this once a month change and forged ahead. As part of what we call our "Heart of Worship" service, we decided that just before communion, we would give people the opportunity to accept Christ for the first time or rededicate their lives to Christ. Some of us know this as an "alter call." (For those who just shivered, please give me a chance to explain further.)

Because of the diversity of our congregation, this was met with some slight hesitation. I can't help but believe that the hesitation comes from our own experience, whether good or bad, when it comes to being subjected to alter calls in the past. For some of us, the thought of Jesus is scary. I saw a bumper sticker one time that said, "I like your Jesus; it's the Christians I'm afraid of." The truth is, this month is a time when our thoughts are heightened to Jesus by the mere fact that Christmas will soon be here and when we look beyond the bows and gifts, Jesus is present.

Now back to the alter call.we neither required anyone to come up to the alter and stand there for what I call a "spiritually naked awakening" nor was it required of anyone to yell out the words. We gave everyone the option of coming up to the alter, sitting in their seats and raising their hand, or simply sit there in silent prayer to speak privately with God.

The next day, I received an e-mail from a friend of mine who was at this service. When the alter call occurred, this person described him/herself as being "stuck." Perhaps many of us have been there. Just stuck. Not able to come up or walk out, just stuck. Stuck because s/he was not "in-love" with Jesus and didn't feel right about making that kind of "commitment."

When I received that e-mail, I thought, "Wow! I had never thought of it in those terms." So often people, especially Pastors, assume that everyone in the congregation is on the "same page" or at least reading the same book, hence the term "preaching to the choir." What a breath of fresh air to know that there are those who will stand up for what they believe and not "dutifully" follow something because that's what the Pastor says. I find this a lot in our community, which is not a bad thing; I would just like to have more chances to discuss the issues!

I had to think on this for a while and I came to an understanding of what s/he was saying. Many of us think of an alter call as standing up and professing our undying love for Jesus. Maybe for some of us it is. But here's another thought. In my view, an alter call is about acceptance, pure and simple. In order to get to the "in-love" stage, one must first accept the other person, or in this case, the Christ. Nothing can happen until there is true acceptance. True love cannot happen without acceptance. True commitment cannot happen without acceptance. True understanding cannot happen without acceptance. It's all about acceptance. And sometimes, acceptance has to happen in segments. Maybe because of our previous experiences, our acceptance of Jesus has to come in segments. For many of us, Christianity has betrayed us so much that we have a hard time trusting Jesus. For some of us, we compare ourselves to those who say they pray for hours, study the bible for hours, go to church several times a week and we feel totally inadequate in our Spiritual journey. Who can ever contend with comparisons?

Perhaps next time we ought to redefine the traditional meaning of the alter call. Perhaps we should look at this as a time when we alter our thoughts to set aside today's Pharisaical ideas of who Jesus is, and allow Him to speak to us Himself. After all, it is the Christ who is the only one who can help us get unstuck. "Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; those who seek find; and to those who knock the door will be opened." Matthew 7:7-8 NIV.