I was looking at the order of worship in a bulletin for another church recently when I noticed a spelling mistake. After the sermon, they had listed that they would have an “Alter Call.” That’s a mistake because the front of a church is referred to as an “altar.”
Then I thought for a moment about it and started to wonder if they’d accidentally stumbled onto something. After all, when we come forward to pray at the end of the service, we are usually asking God to “alter” us – shape me, change me, help me to be the person you want me to be. They didn’t have it right grammatically, but maybe they were closer to right spiritually than I originally gave them credit for.
Do I want God to alter me? Do I want to be changed into His likeness? Or am I pursuing a God who will help me in my moment of crisis, but who I don’t want asking me to make any changes in my life?