Bells and Whistles

Kelly, Sam, and I have been church shopping since we've moved down to Durham, NC. It's been difficult. I blame it mostly on my ridiculous previous church where the members and staff have no idea the pain and suffering they are inflicting on those who must leave after graduation. I had no idea how incredibly spoiled I was with loving and real faces, worship that didn't actually mean, "Look at me, I can play guitar and dress nice", and teaching. TEACHING. I forgot that the pastor is actually supposed to provide real, challenging sermons that get you talking when you leave.

I'm sorry. I really am. I'm a little bitter, and I admit that. But after what the three of us went through this morning, I feel like I have some reason. I've even waited until now to write this. I was hoping that I would be able to sort of calm down and gather my reasonable thoughts after a little time, but the more I write this now, the more I am regressing to frustration.

To put it simply, I've never felt worse after going to church, than I did before I went. I don't mean to speak for Kelly and Sam, but I'm pretty sure we all felt the same. Walking out to the parking lot, we just felt stressed and on edge. We even ducked out the side exit to get out of the building faster. It was the worst Sunday morning experience I've ever had.

Now, I have nothing against the term, "mega church". I've heard plenty of bad things against the concept that I don't agree with, and I believe that when you're responsible, the amount of influence God is able to give you us an absolute blessing. But this was not that place. I will not give away the name, however, due to past experience of a good friend. I'd hate to get in trouble with the worship pastor :)

Basically, the biggest thing that upset me was that the pastor, during his sermon, began talking about the dangers of getting caught up in the "bells and whistles" of the contemporary church. Now, I don't know where that church stands in their faith. I would not be comfortable saying that most people attended this church because it looked like a resort. But what really set me off, was that apparently "bells and whistles" are now a requirement of the contemporary church.

Walking in, we passed a fountain that was incredibly beautiful, meaning it must have been incredibly expensive. I looked to Kelly and Sam and made a comment asking how one could justify such a purchase, and then I read the sign. "Please do not swim in the Baptism Pool" Of course! Let's buy an awesome beautiful fountain, stick it out front, and then to make ourselves feel better, we'll baptize people in it instead of using one of the umpteen million lakes surrounding us. Since when is this necessary to be part of the church?

It was not, we need to be careful about what we purchase. The message was, we can't just come for the bells and whistles of the church. When the crap did Jesus ever describe the church as having bells and whistles? There was a moment somewhere in between noticing both flat screen LCD TV hidden in the back playing what looked to be creepy screen savers, and the blinding fog filling my lungs where I actually began to feel sick. Not due to the fog, but due to the lack of compassion for what's outside of this box we call "the contemporary church". I don't even care if they do a mission trip to Africa, which they are planning. How about not spending money on some weird creepy design of random white squares all over the back wall, and send one more person to Africa?

Last year at my home church, we used our entire offering from one Sunday to save a child's life in Honduras. Why the heck are we wasting money on that random kid down in South America when we can buy one more flat screen TV??????

Please forgive me for this rant. I expect/hope that someone will put me in my place. I don't believe someone can speak down on something for so long with out getting it handed back to them, but I was just really angry this morning, and this is what has resulted.