"The abnegation of reason is not the evidence of faith, but the confession of despair."
- J.B. Lightfoot
Sunday, July 31, 2011
From Rachel Held Evans' blog, check this out: Blessed are the un-cool.
Some excerpts below. This expresses a conviction that's been growing in me for some time.
People sometimes assume that because I’m a progressive 30-year-old who enjoys Mumford and Sons and has no children, I must want a super-hip church—you know, the kind that’s called “Thrive” or “Be” and which boasts “an awesome worship experience,” a fair-trade coffee bar, its own iPhone app, and a pastor who looks like a Jonas Brother.Read the whole thing.
While none of these features are inherently wrong, (and can of course be used by good people to do good things), these days I find myself longing for a church with a cool factor of about 0.
That’s right.
I want a church that includes fussy kids, old liturgy, bad sound, weird congregants, and…brace yourself…painfully amateur “special music” now and then.
Why?
Well, for one thing, when the gospel story is accompanied by a fog machine and light show, I always get this creeped-out feeling like someone’s trying to sell me something. It’s as though we’re all compensating for the fact that Christianity’s not good enough to stand on its own so we’re adding snacks.
Trackbacks:
Trackback URL: http://thinklings.org/bloo.trackback.php/6483.
Comments on "Blessed Are The Un-Cool":
2. Quaid
- 08/05/2011 10:45 am CDT
So this conversation came up in a staff meeting Wednesday:
We have a disabled adult woman adopted from Romania who is permanently dependent on others for just about everything. She used to attend the "Special Needs" class, but her caretaker (for all intents and purposes, mother) felt that she should be in the church service.
During the second service this past Sunday at the end during the closing prayer, she let out a blood-curdling scream from the back of the room that, more or less, shut down the service. (It may also have required mass cleanup of urine in the surrounding rows.)
As far as we can tell, she is at a very low level of comprehension. She cannot communicate using words and, without the help of a straightjacket, will attack herself.
We want to be welcome to all and "okay" with distractions, but this seems to fall in the category of "this can't go on." We have a cry room - should we ask the mother to take her adult daughter there? Should we ask her to return to the Special Needs class? Or should we accept that the Church is imperfect, full of uncool people and embrace her sometimes chair-wetting presence?
3. Tony
- 08/05/2011 12:14 pm CDT
I actually don't have as much of a problem with the worship "show" then I do the pastor's message trying to be "cool". Usually "cool" mingled in with the gospel equals a watered down gospel and/or message. A healthy or sound message ultimately confronts someone about their sin and trying to be "hip" about it is wrong.
4. Karl
- 08/09/2011 10:53 am CDT
Rachel's blog is one of my favorites and along with the Thinklings, it's one of my regular stops on the web even though the proprietors of the two blogs probably would differ on many issues both political and theological. Thanks for the cross-post. I liked the thoughts on an "un-cool" church.
Leave a Comment:
I belong to an uncool church so thanks for the encouragement!