2.5 of Battlestar Galactica last night. It was a long episode, over an hour, which I guess in TV terms is an hour and a half or thereabouts. Lots of twists and turns, unexpected character changes and of course, a cliffhanger of sorts. All in all, we watched more TV in that series than in the previous 5 or more years. By far.
The business of Christianity in the U.S. continues to bug me. I don’t think that I’m going to stop being bugged by it anytime soon. It’s the little, everyday things that are getting to me now. I walked out to get the mail and the first thing I notice is the big, 4 color, glossy, Lifeway brochure. All I could think was, how much money did this useless mailout cost, how many cubic feet will it occupy in the landfills and how many people could have been given Bibles where they are desperately needed?
It isn’t like I don’t purchase study guides, commentaries or Bibles, goodness knows I have my share. It is the marketing, constant, in your face, 24/7/365 shopping experience that U.S. Christianity has become. And that sounds harsh, is harsh and is an indictment of me as much as anyone else. Now it has paralyzed me. The only people I reach out to now are those that reach out first. It doesn’t feel right, doesn’t compute in my mind but that is just where I am.
I completely understand where you are coming from. Growing up as a Preacher’s son, I can remember all the things we had to give up because of my father’s low incomoe. Even in the poorest church, we were able to make missions work the primary place the church spent its money. Now I see these mega churches where the Pastors drive hummers and live in million dollar homes. Then you throw in the “Name it and Claim it” and Prosperity churches, and I wonder how many people who claim Christ have ever actually met him.
As for BSG, I love the show. It is nice to see a series that is nt dumbed down for the masses.
Interestingly, I too grew up as the child of a preacher. The times certainly have changed, with more money now spent on administrative functions (by FAR) than on outreach and missions. I still cringe at the title “Senior Pastor”. That title, in and of itself, should tell the congregation that the church is too big. A pastor cannot do pastoral work if he cannot personally know each family in the congregation, IMO. Never gave much thought to it but I guess that would make my ideal church size somewhere between 20 and 50 families, depending upon the people involved.
The church that I will always remember as “home” no longer exists due to lack of funds. It was interesting that the final budget decided to put all funds towards outreach instead of revitalizing the church. The elders knew they could not hold on much longer, so they decided to make sure some of the other churches in the area had some extra money, and to pay for a new pastor to go to one of the mission chruches they supported.