Okay, Enough Sarcasm

Using sarcasm and parody as my main devices, my last few posts have been complaints about the state of Christianity in America. It's so steeped in consumerism that going to church has become no different than going to the mall or the local country club. The real Jesus has been kicked out of the church and replaced with bellhops and Santa Claus. It's sad how most churchgoers, including me, forfeit grace and accept pabulum in its place. What is grace anyway? Is giving people only what they want so that they feel good about themselves qualify?

It's strange, this belief that if people's whims are satisfied that we've been "graceful". But I wonder sometimes if we really do a disservice to people when we do things just to pack people into the Sunday morning pews. Is this grace?

This is what I understand grace to be for churchgoers: coming to the worship space empty-handed. No preferences, no motives, no pride, no whims, no comparisons-- nothing!! It is only when we are empty that we can receive. As Luther said, "We are truly beggars." We come together only to get what we need, not in a therapeutic way, or to help us "get through the week". We come to be equipped with the love of God shown to us through Christ so that we may exercise our various vocations. We come to worship in the sanctuary so that we may worship in the world. It's the worship after worship.

For myself-- I would rather have 5 people in worship wanting to be fed with the Gospel than 500 in worship waiting to be entertained.