It's Just a Passing Fancy

A few weeks ago, the cultural phenomenon known as The Super Bowl took place, pitting the New York Giants against the New England Patriots.  This year, I decided to perform an experiment by not watching any of the game and seeing how long I could avoid hearing who who and by what score.  My plan was to utilize this information to discuss how quick we are to talk about football, but how infrequently we talk about Jesus.  We have become football zealots and Jesus pacifists.  However, my experiment yielded some unexpected results.

First of all, you need to know that I am a sportsaholic in recovery.  Sports (Watching and participating) have always been a huge part of my life.  As I have gotten older, I have realized that too much of my time was wasted watching sports and so I have greatly cut down on sports viewing.  So not watching the Super Bowl wasn't as big a deal was it would have been twenty years ago.  I find watching sports on TV becomes rather boring and is a last resort if I can't find something else to do.  Our church had our Sunday evening ministries, which quite a few people missed to they could watch THE game.  So I easily avoided finding out about the Super Bowl.  Monday morning was going to be the challenge because I was going to work out at the gym as usual.  The eliptical machines on which I often work out on faced a bank of televisions with several on sports channels or on the news.  For the most part, I was able to avoid seeing any images about the Super Bowl, but now came the big challenge:  Getting in and out of the locker room without hearing about the game.  Amazingly, I was able to get in, shower and change, then get out without learning about the game.  Here is where things got interesting:  That was the only time I have come close to hearing about the game.  I was amazed when I went to the gym the next day how little the topic of the Super Bowl was discussed.  I have heard no conversations about it and have only had a few people try to tell me what happened.  I have a fairly good idea of who won the game, but no idea what the score was.  I am confident that I will keep that information out of my life until next years' BIG game. 

What does this have to do with anything of consequence?  Great question.  You see, I was stunned at how quickly our culture went from one big deal to the next.  Two days after the Super Bowl, people were talking about the Miami Heat.  Then they started talking about Linsanity.  Then they talked about Whitney Houston.  Tomorrow, it will be the next big thing.  I began to wonder, how often do we get sucked into things that are supposed to be important, but really are not.  Our culture goes from the latest fad to the latest fad.  It's not cool to wear platform shoes, bell bottoms, silk shirts unbuttoned half-way down the chest and dance to disco.  Fads come and go in our culture.  Yet if we are stuck in culture, we feel pressured to keep up with the latest.  So our kids have to have the latest toys or the latest fashion.  We have to have the newest technology which will change our lives. 

Has the church in America bought into this?  Don't we in the church chase fads too?  Our church has to have the latest gimmick to keep us engaged:  The latest media, a rocking praise band, preachers who can  help cure all of our ills, bang up web sites, parking at the front for visitors(Oops, I mean, "guests), casual wear and the list goes on and on.  It almost seems that the church has chosen style over substance.  We have gotten sucked into this fad mentality of trying to keep up with the latest and hippest church.  So instead of focusing on making disciples, we are focused on the appearance of our churches.  What would happen on Sunday if the electricity went off during our worship service?  What would happen if the pastor got sick and could find no replacement?  What would happen if there were no musical instruments?  What would church look like in America this Sunday if we sought to emulate the first century church? 

The book of Acts paints a rather dull picture of the Church in Acts 2:42.  This kind of a church would never attract the crowds and would bore most of our children, young adults and adults.  It says that the Church "devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to pray".  What a lame worship service.  Where is the power point/Media Shout?  Where is the praise band?  Where are the latest videos to engage us?  Where are the great speakers who can lift us up to Heaven?  It simply looks like the church gathered to study about Jesus, pray, and eat together.  Man, how in the world can we advertise that successfully?  But if we read the next verse, it says, "Everyone was filled with awe and many wonderful and miraculous signs were done".  When was the last time the church in America was filled with awe at what God had done?  We are often in awe of the video presentations our AV teams put together or in awe of how great the band sounds today or in awe of how everything in the service was so perfectly timed.  It's almost like we are in awe of what we can do that we miss letting God do what He can do.  Perhaps that is why the church in America is impotent.  We are trusting in people (even Godly people) rather than trusting God.  We show up on Sunday to be entertained rather than meet the Creator and Sustainer of the Universe.

If you follow Jesus, can I urge you to take the lesson from the Super Bowl:  Don't get sucked into the latest fad (Even the latest church fad), but draw near to God.  Do something boring like start your day in humble prayer and devoted study of the Word.  Let that encounter change and rearrange the order of your day.  Look to Christ throughout the day and seek to honor Him in all you do.  The Church is not called to entertain those who are lost, our purpose is to be Christ's agent of transformation of lives into radical followers of Jesus.  Perhaps if the Church did that, Americans would look to Jesus for answers rather than investing so much time, effort, money and energy into fads that just don't last.