so i just watched a video called "church haters". the guy in the video talks about the shift in philosophy from that of seeker sensitive to that of church haters, which is those people who are not sensitive at all but rather hostile towards church.
i found that language interesting, quite interesting.
the seeker sensitive idea has never really appealed to me because i never really got a good explanation on how it was supposed to work. i guess it was meant to define a way in which you set up a church service in so that it was sensitive to those who weren't totally sure where they stood with this Jesus, but they were there in your building checking it out, you know seeking, and therefore the service should be sensitive to those, and if your planning for sunday used that filter then you could be a placed under the seeker sensitive umbrella. i think my problem was that to me from the outside looking in, and in seeing a very small picture, it all just sounded like a spiritual way of saying you were dressing down, singing top 40 songs in worship, trying to become a better 90 minutes, or in some cases being something that you really aren't for the sake of those who really aren't sure why they were there. or something like that.
then i heard of those who would say yeah, we're a seeker sensitive church, God is the seeker and we are sensitive to Him and what He wants from us. i liked that mostly, but then realized that it was just a clever way of being a hater of those who were trying the seeker sensitive thing and really what you were saying is that our church is not going to change, we are who we are, take it or leave it, were not here for questions, or for seeking, and we are not interested in being progressive or current even, we have other things to speak of such as carpet colors. or something like that.
so back to this church hater mentality thing. it is really throwing me. i think i like it conceptually and i think it's true kinda, but again it leads me to wonder.
everything leads me to wonder.
i don't know where our church lands on this pendulum. or if this whole thing even is a pendulum at all. i think as a church we have to be a little of both. and i think it means being self-aware, culture aware, and God-aware are non-negotiable. i think you have to sit in meetings and ask yourself honestly if what you are about to do on sunday is weird, or stupid, out of touch, or not God honoring. for instance, if you we are going to have a service in which at the end we hand out trucker hats with a christian quote and talk about having a myspace discussion board then we are not culturally aware. no one does that anymore and therefore we have just indicted ourselves as being a place that is out of touch, a bit lame, and trying way too hard, and i'm going to venture to say that doesn't honor God.
as a 26 yr old worship pastor at a church i want to be myself and in that be a worshiper who is aware and not living with a severe case of tunnel vision. i don't know if i want to be seeker sensitive or church hater sensitive but i know that i don't want to be so sensitive that i don't who i am, or to quote a bumper sticker i just saw "whos i am". i know i love music, i love coffee, i watch cnn, i check facebook, i have a lame twitter, and i read the rolling stones and secretly like lady gaga and eminem's skills, and i know that v-necks are growing on me, and i know that i submit my life to jesus. and i know somehow that is supposed to help me serve the world and speak truth and speak life and speak of a better way, the only way.
all the lingo makes my head heart. i think we need to change. i think we don't want to keep our traditions and lose a generation. i know that i'm to blame some for lame ideas, and i'm learning that i am the most relevant not when i know the must current things, but simply when i am the most loving. and i'm learning that we can't talk our way into being more socially acceptable. in the end, the gospel is messy and it speaks of a naked bloody God/man taking our place on a roman cross. no matter how hard we try it's impossible to make that cool. i hope my generation gets that.
let us be ourselves and let our lives and services reflect a creative awe-inspiring God who has captivated us, and who is worth our best effort, our entire life, and our striving for excellence. let us not work hard to be who we are not, let us work hard to be who we are. let us not think the goal is better music or funnier preaching or an all around better 90 minutes on sunday. let us get better at what we do on sunday, and more importantly on the rest of the week, for the sake of his glorious name, and for the sake of the One who was willing to tell a samaritan harlot that he is seeking those who worship in spirit and truth and that he is sensitive to the broken hearted and that he would give his life for those who hated him and his church.
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