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August 6, 2006
the famous one
good morning and happy sabbath - as you all get dressed and pressed and head out to your own particular house of worship i think it might be a good idea to ponder what's missing from the whole worship service at large these days. i realize the church has been taking it on the chin of late for being to stodgy and uptite about - well about pretty much everything...and in response many churches have begun taking an aggressive approach to catching up with the current culture - music has gotten a kickin' rock beat, jeans and sandals are now appropriate attire (because jesus totally wore sandals. every day) sermons have become largely anecdotal focusing primarily on why we are all such messy people - and join one of our community groups and let's all be messy together. and of course there's the free coffee which is dispensed almost as abundantly as the free grace these days. it seems that church leaders have completely lost faith that we can comprehend a wit of holy writ. so it all gets consolidated and watered down - just like the free coffee.
and yet, in spite of all of these modifications to the moderne worship service something still seems amiss. it's not the complete and total lack of doctrine, or a statement of faith. well actually it is exactly that but i'm not here to talk about that. with all the concessions and adjustments being made one still gets the sense that churches today are not quite in lockstep with the culture.
and i think i may have identified the problem. it's only been within the last 5 years that churches have begun making sermons available on compact disc as opposed to cassette tape - and maybe that technological advancement was satisfactory in the year 2000 (and boy did we dodge a bullet with that whole y2k thing) but here we are blasting our way toward the latter half of this decade and churches seem content to stick with the soulless bland compact disc.
but friends this needs to change. this is why i'm suggesting churches begin making forays into the wonderful world of the enhanced dvd. you know most of them already have dvd players anyway - otherwise how could they show you those heart wrenching vignettes on a weekly basis. and seriously, think of all the possibilities an enhanced dvd might imbue. not only would it shout from the rooftops that christianity matters again it also opens up the door to so many breathtaking possibilites.
no longer would the pastor be confined to the material that he can squeeze into his 20 minute sermon. with the enhanced dvd there would be ample opportunities for deleted anecdotes - extended metaphors - and you know that c.s. lews/john piper/donald miller quote that seemed completely out of context with the rest of the sermon? well on the dvd the pastor could read the whole thing so maybe you could comprehend where he was actually trying to go with all of that. to me the most exciting possibility the enhanced dvd provides is the alternate sermon ending. because seriously, wouldn't that sermon last week have been much more meaningful with a dispensationalist ending? yes. yes it would have.
i know this sounds like a lot of work to put into something on a weekly basis - in fact with all that i've suggested this would probably have to be a dual disc set which could get pricey - but come on people. it's time to roll up our sleeves and get a little bit dirty. and wouldn't you like to hear elder commentary on the sermons? or even a behind the scenes feature that follows the choir from practice to fruition? i know i would. so i would challenge each and every one of you to raise this topic at your next congregational meeting. because in the year 2006 braided belts, pot luck dinners, and rapture drills just aren't cutting it anymore. it's time to make that change.
| By young_christopher | 9:07 AM