I was reading a portion of one of my previous professor's (Larry Chouinard) books and I was seriously jolted into reality as I read the paragraph below. Honestly, this is one of the most cogent thoughts on "Church" that I have heard in a while! I couldn't even read the next paragraph (and still have not) because I can't get past the depth and insight of this one (even though it is so simple). Please, give this paragraph a read and think on these things:
"With all good intentions churches often assume that broken and fragmented lives can be fixed by spicing the particulars of life with a Christian flavoring. As long as the program or product is designated "Christian,” or the name of Jesus is somehow woven into the activity, the particulars of life are now sanctified and given meaning. So if we wear Christian T-shirts and only listen to Christian music, and attend only Christian weight loss programs or get into shape only by Christian aerobics, our lives will soon have a coherent core. The reality is that while we may build institutional loyalty and grow a prime time audience, there's usually not much thought put into how our programs connect the participant to a story with universal and cosmic significance. And the attempt to inject the event with spiritual significance strains credulity and sounds at best silly, if not blasphemous."
- L. Chouinard, Way of the Kingdom (self-published), 4. Free download here: Way of the Kingdom.
"With all good intentions churches often assume that broken and fragmented lives can be fixed by spicing the particulars of life with a Christian flavoring. As long as the program or product is designated "Christian,” or the name of Jesus is somehow woven into the activity, the particulars of life are now sanctified and given meaning. So if we wear Christian T-shirts and only listen to Christian music, and attend only Christian weight loss programs or get into shape only by Christian aerobics, our lives will soon have a coherent core. The reality is that while we may build institutional loyalty and grow a prime time audience, there's usually not much thought put into how our programs connect the participant to a story with universal and cosmic significance. And the attempt to inject the event with spiritual significance strains credulity and sounds at best silly, if not blasphemous."
- L. Chouinard, Way of the Kingdom (self-published), 4. Free download here: Way of the Kingdom.
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