Greetings Dear Reader,
“And the three men I admire most, the Father, Son, and the
Holy Ghost, caught the last train for the coast, the day the music died.” (Don McClean – American Pie) I once heard Casey Kasem do a walkthrough of
this song and he explained that this line refers to the commercialization of
the church in America. I must agree that
there is very much about American Christianity that is more commercial than compassion.
The song I included earlier in this series also has a poignant
line. “We’ve turned a passion for the
lost into the business of saving souls.”
(Steve Camp) I wonder what would
happen if we stopped trying to sell salvation and began to live out the Gospel
in every aspect of our lives. Would our
churches fail if we stopped passing the offering plate and told people to give
as their hearts were guided?
We could do many things to divest our churches and our lives
of commercialism and the business of Christianity. I remember when the Jesus music movement was
getting rolling and there was a concept that the music was to be shared
freely. Some musicians sold concert
tickets for whatever the purchaser could afford. If I want to go see Casting Crowns at the
venue closest to me, I can pay anywhere from $38 to $648. I am not picking on Casting Crowns. I truly like most of their music.
What does shock me is that someone has already purchased
some of the tickets in the $648 block. I
suppose it should not but it does. You
see, I wonder how much different the concert is if we see it as the advertised “amazing
worship experience” from the $38 seat. I
ponder if Jesus was less impactful on the members of the five-thousand he fed
who were farthest back when the loaves and fishes were handed out.
So much of the church these days is about the package. The worship or hymns are the build-up to the
offering. Giving that is supposed to be
done in secret is instead a show for the ushers and the people on either
side. Suggestions for programs are almost
always measured out by their cost instead of the need. The core of faith leaders in our nation
seems to consider the bottom line before moving in faith.
Before I get too far down the path of “the church”, we need
to remember that the church only does what its members allow it to do. We are the church and we need to recall that
it is a reflection of who we are. We
cannot relegate responsibility for keeping commercialism out of following
Christ to an entity. We must keep it out
of our lives. If we do not then what we
follow is something in a package and not the living Christ.
I must be vigilant not to allow the package to be more important
than the practice. It is never a matter
of money, format, programs, or packaging.
It is always about my heart and mind belonging solely to Jesus. That, Dear Reader, is where we can meet and
travel together. If we are not selling
salvation but instead giving love and grace to everyone freely, we will not have
to advertise. People flock to where they
get their needs met. “That’s the way
that it works. That’s the way it must
be. You’ve got to let his blood stain
you if you want to get free.” (Waterdeep)
Wishing you joy in the journey,
Aramis Thorn
Mat 13:52 So Jesus said to them, "That is why every
writer who has become a disciple of Christ’s rule of the universe is like a
homeowner. He liberally hands out new and old things from his great treasure
store.”
(͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
Contacts for Aramis
Thorn:
Bookings: aramisthorn@aramisthorn.com
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