Gotta have drama, gotta keep it tight
Gotta be a hip pastor, cool on a stool
Gotta have coffee bars and ministry tools
Does any of this sound familiar? Hey, look, I'm not knocking churches that have and do all this stuff (I work at one, minus the coffee bar), but if that's all we're about, we've missed it.
I'm a bass player. And I'm a good one. Not boasting, but I've done some pretty big gigs in my career. Back in the late 1990s, I lived in Tulsa, OK, and at that time, all the denominational churches there were in a push to create a "contemporary" service. It was great for me, because I had my pick of all the good gigs. I often joked that if a good bass player could form the word "Jesus" in his mouth, he had a church gig somewhere.
Really, all they were looking for was a rock band to do worship. What they were actually NEEDING was true authentic worship, but not many of the music pastors understood that. I often thought of it as a form of godliness, but denying the POWER thereof, but that's a whole other blog.
Fast forward to 2007, and the buzzword is "relevance." We have churches doing all sorts of things in the name of relevance. We've untucked our shirts, left our cuffs unbuttoned, gotten the faux-hawk hairstyle, all in the name of relevance. Well, if that's all you've got, then all you've got is nothing more than a cookie-cutter template of Chrismetrotisexualanity. I believe that all of these things are OK in and of themselves, but when it becomes what defines you, then it's wrong.
So, you might ask, "Well, Mr. Know-it-all, self-proclaimed bass player extraordinaire, what do YOU think relevance is?" I'm glad you asked.
Check out my post Monday and I'll tell you.
2 comments:
Hey...maybe this is premature, since you haven't shared your definition yet, but doesn't the fact that you're trying to be "relevant" really betray the fact that you aren't?
To me, it's kind of like a woman saying "hey, I'm a lady" when someone makes an illicit proposition, or someone saying "hey, I'm the leader" when nobody wants to do what they say. In both cases, your words betray the truth about you.
I think that maybe if our churches were full of authentic, non-pretentious people, we would become more relevant automatically. Or at least, just a little less weird.
Hold on, mi amigo, are you trying to steal my thunder? This is MY blog for Pete's sake! Did you pay any money to get this domain name? Well, er, um, I didn't either, but that's not the point...
You're right-on Donnie. But let's not tell the others. I want some credit for this (since it is my blog after all.)
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