YOUR FATHER'S OLDSMOBILE

QUESTION: What's the deal with American church life these days? Sometimes it seems (AT LEAST TO ME) little more than an exercise in missing the point. Routinely hanging with God's people in nations far and wide, I can honestly say that things don't seem to be much different (i.e. healthier) 'over there' (though many missionaries talk as if they are- it is good for funding!). Why should things be much different? Hasn't the Western world has laid down the pattern through much of its mission work? 


ANOTHER QUESTION: Why does the American church function and 'think' (theologize) in a way that suggests that the living God stopped doing anything new or fresh after the Reformation? 


I agree with Brian McLaren and others: Faithfulness requires that 'everything must change'! The church is in real trouble if it does not change (*a change that starts with its self-serving leaders). I remember hearing a message by Tim Timmons years ago and I've never forgotten its title: "We're Only Talking to Ourselves."  I think that we preach to and serve ourselves- the way we do- because our faith is actually so weak and, we ourselves, though we will not readily admit it, feel so lost.


Recall the old ad campaign: "This is not your father's Oldsmobile." The campaign helped sell more cars for a season, however, the Oldsmobile eventually went along the wayside with other clunkers.  Some say that the problem was that the 'new' car truly was just like father's Oldsmobile.


For several decades now, my generation (the Baby Boomers- and after them, the Busters) have tried to convince our culture that everything 'has' changed with the church. Actually, all we did was dress up the same old Oldsmobile. We got rid of the big tail fins, added slick new wheels, leather interiors, and 'navigational systems'. BTW- What good is a navigational system if you don't know where you're going?


Over these decades while I've been in ministry, at least from my point of view, the American church (dare I say, 'we' go include 'me') has essentially been about promoting itself; letting the world know 'they' are 'lost' and 'we' are 'saved'; keeping the church coffers full so we can build bigger and more comfortable buildings (sometimes more attractive, funky, and high-tech, or 'buildings-that-don't-like-churches buildings'), bigger budgets and staff ('Staff'- the Professionals- e.g. media pastors (what the heck is that?); executive pastors (does that mean he/ she finally makes decisions?); Church CEOs (I cannot believe that some even dare use this title- though, at least they are more honest than others who act this way but never claim the title); more members and baptisms, and an array of other basically self-serving programs.  


It is curious that, under our last presidential administration, surveys showed that those who regularly attended church in America were more likely to support the idea of torturing our nation's enemies in order to get information what would keep us 'safe'. What's wrong with this picture?  I suspect that those who attend church regularly would also be more likely to say this about the present healthcare debate in our nation: "Why should we pay for them?"  Anything seem strange about this? Maybe Peter Rollins is correct when he suggests that there may be a certain 'fidelity in betrayal' (that is, betraying one's family to stand with those who believe something or live something closer to the truth). My wife just added: "You can dress up a corpse but it is still dead."




No. It is not about dressing up the old (or dead). It is about getting on to what Jesus wanted all along: a people he could call his own who are ruled by the inconvenient, messy, and 'selfless' rule of love.  "And love seeks not its own."


Well, enough. Gotta go. My Oldsmobile is idling out in the driveway.