If you are receiving an email update for the first time, and are slightly confused as to why, I took the liberty of signing many of you up to get updates while I am gone this year. If you would rather not receive these updates, I’ll try not to hold it against you. 🙂 You can unsubscribe with a link at the bottom of the email you received.]
A few nights ago,
I saw the years of my life, and the prevalence of “performance” in my life. Before I moved to New York and became engrossed in the world of theatre. Before I entered college, studied the electronic media and longed to work in television production. Like any typical teenager, I followed movies, music, and celebrity gossip. I loved actors, not for their celebrity and fame, but more for the fascinating people I thought they must be, to be involved in such a line of work as performance. I have studied the art, followed actors’ careers, and somehow managed to keep company with a variety of artists and performers. Beyond all this, I saw how even my own self-esteem and the way I live my life have revolved around performance.
All this said, with the immense influence and quantity of the art and entertainment industry in America, it is no surprise that this is a performance and entertainment driven culture. Being entertained is available with a snap of the fingers or the click of a mouse. I bring you two examples:
Consider your local Starbucks. Though it is my current place of employment and is often criticized (by myself and others) as the “fast food of coffee”, it retains its popularity because of the Starbucks experience. Each Starbucks can be compared to a live theatre performance. The customer enters and is led to the register by the lighting design and merchandise displays. The partner at the register recites his or her lines by calling the customer’s drink to the barista in a particular order, who then performs by creating the perfect made-to-order drink. The final product is placed on the hand-off counter under a spotlight, ready to entertain your tastebuds.
Even more notably, the American church has become like attending a rock concert or a theatre performance. There is a stage, an audience, lights, graphics, a sound system. Lines of song and speech are rehearsed, and are presented in a specific order for the show. Audience members are given a program when they walk in the door. Talents are showcased, a message and meaning are delivered, and the desired effect is that the audience members leave feeling touched, challenged, or at least entertained.
Okay, the last part is not always true. My hope is that it is never true. My desire is for the American church to be a haven for those who want to know the Lord better or understand what it means to be a “little Christ”. I hope that it will be a place of worshipping the Lord in Spirit and in Truth, to live and encourage one another as the early disciples lived. Not to tithe merely because it is our duty and to only see other churchgoers on Sunday mornings, but to live in true community, sharing our belongings with those in need and becoming a part of each others’ lives in the deepest sense. But so often we fall short. We perform, instead of being brave enough to step outside of the box that we have created for God and for our understanding of Christianity.
I am excited about this next year and to learn what “true community” looks like, and what the church can be. It can be as big as several hundred worshippers, or as small as my team of 5 believers. My desire is to know what it means to be a Christian. What does that look like? I do not intend to criticize the American church or American Christians (heck, I am an American Christian who attends an American Church). But the next year is an opportunity for the Lord to open our eyes to the “life to the fullest”, “heart of the matter”, kingdom of God that you and I were created to experience. To be different, atypical, radical.
Beyond the performance, beyond the characterization, beyond the script, beyond the message, and beyond even the poetry of the art itself, is reality. It is heart. It is brokenness. It is unpolished, unattractive, unrehearsed
life. I want to know what that means.
(If you’re interested in reading more blogs about changing the way we “do church”, I recommend Jeff Goins’ blogs
here
, or more specifically, “That’s Not Church” parts
one
and
two
).
I don’t want an Encore no more!
Keep em’ shoutin’ for more no more!
Dissappear through the floor no more!
I don’t wanna show off.
