ORDERING McCHURCH
Churches would probably draw more people and fight less if steeples were just replaced with golden arches. If religion could be a little less organized and little more...what's the word...fast foodish, they'd do a brisker business don't you think?The arches on top would let people know that like the food chain that used them first this church will get you in and out quickly, with exactly what you're hungry for, made to order, for a very small price. Comfortable seats. Comfortable conversation - or none at all. It's up to you, the customer, who, by the way, is always right.
But for now the steeple stays. And it reminds us, that regardless of what customers - I mean, members - think a church wasn't established to serve Happy Meals every week and pastors who don't double as short order cooks will never please every patron in their establishment.
A church is a church.
What would happen if the early Church pastor Paul were to encounter a McChurch in the making? He's bound to make some rules and pronouncements and changes, it's what Paul does, but what kind? How organized does organized religion really need to be? And why? Why can't Paul just let folks hang out and eat crap together if they're happy? Lighten up. Find out tomorrow at ikon as we take a look at the back half of 1 Corinthians 14.
posted by Shaun Groves @ 7/17/2006
8 comments
8 Comments:
Nicely done on the graphic...it made me laugh in a sad sort of way. Definitely looking forward to Ikon tomorrow, it sounds like you will (as is often the case) have a refreshing outlook on community and this walk we're one.
Off subject...did you ever receive my email last week?
Rachel
Brother Paul put it this way, I believe:
"For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths." (2 Tim. 4:3-4)
I think the time has come.
During my priority time yesterday, i journaled, "How deep would our conviction be if our God were a "drive thru" God. So, opening up you blog for the first time in months was a little...unsettling. But, it made me think, that picture is exactly why the conviction of so many is so shallow. We don't have a drive-thru God but there are many drive thru churches out there and they've taken their toll.
Carolyn
Drive-thru churches and fast-food Christianity, isn't that what's wrong today? Isn't that what we are feeding the masses? I agree that most churches have become rule-based and "we are here to serve us and others like us." Those churches are dying like never before. But let's don't resort to empty calories and a fat-filled gospel to try and entice the people back. Paul also said that those human commands and doctrines were but a shadow (without substance) and the only reality is Christ and Him alone.
B~
I've read the Kudzu comic strip for years. One of the main characters, the Rev. Will B. Done, has for a long time run a McSteeples with drive through, have it your way sermons. Very funny.
OF course the opposite extreme is no good either right? Philip Yancey writes often about the stern church upbringing he received, all rules and no love. None of us get the balance right all the time - I sure don't. I like this passage and the entire book of Corinthians because it gives from very practical "tips" on how to better arrive at the balance between legalism and license.
SG
I grew up in a "scary old" Baptist Church in Texas, I think it was First Baptist of 'You're All Goin' to Hell'. I always thought God was hiding behind a pecan tree waiting catch me to screwing up so he could smite me or something. I never REALLY knew that he loved me, all wailing and gnashing of teeth, no love. It wasn't until I got older that I learned that God loved me enough to send His very best. It seems that the backlash to that kind of church is more like Burger King... "Have it Your Way". How's about have it His way. The second chapter of Revelation is addressed to the seven churches in Asia, warning them against false apostles and false doctrines. (Revelation 3:15) "I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other!" The 'Jesus light' message is probably more agravationg to me, because it becomes too permissive, too squishy (and my God ain't squishy!). It ends up with anything goes. The other end of the spectrum is the Spanish Inquisition......
A church is only as good as the fat butts sitting in the pews. Get involved. Get active. If it's picking up trash after a function, leading prayer, getting involved in councils and church politics (Ewwww...), go to those meetings, whatever it takes. Do something. Don't let the church you go to turn into Christ-In-The Box or First Church of the Inquisition....
We are HIS creation. We are subserviant to HIS will. A tool in a toolbox is pretty much worthless unless the master craftsman picks it up with his hand to be used. Be useful. The tool doesn't tell the craftsman what he wants to do, but is there to be used for what it was created for. When I grow up.... I want to be an impact wrench.
Maxwedge is good at exhorting us. Thanks.
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