I recently read the book You Are What You Love by James A. K. Smith. Like so many of the Christian books today it is fairly redundant. He often makes a point and then has the tendency to over emphasize the point. More than once he would take five pages to say again what he said in one page. However, in spite of that weakness, his thesis was very valid. He points out that ritual reinforces our beliefs and builds a bond of love between us and what the ritual espouses. He made the point, over and over and over again, that much of our culture is built around the rituals of consumerism. Although a little dated, he demonstrated how the shopping mall is set up as a kind of cathedral with the cash registers filling in as altars. He could have also pointed to obsession with sports as another kind of secular ritual. His overarching point was that Christians should be more mindful of these secular rituals and work to make more God centered rituals in our daily lives. A point I wholeheartedly agree with.

He went on to point out that need to reorient our church rituals to be more God centered than they are. And I have to say Amen! How often are our prayers a supplication for health and wealth rather than praise and thanks or direction in our spiritual growth. One of the ways he pointed this out was in contemporary “praise songs.” I’ve always had a little unease about them and now he gave me the reason. How many times is the emphasis on “me” and “my actions.” Such as “Here I am to bow down. Heare I am to praise.”

He made another point that I forced to give an Amen to. That is the mentality of the Mega Church. This mentality can be, and is, held by any size of church, not just those with thousands of attendees. What it comes down to is the attitude that we must be “seeker friendly.” Or how it is also said, “to be a church for the unchurched.” That all sounds good because it seems to be emphasizing evangelism but too often it turns into an entertainment experience rather than an effort in building discipleship. I’ve visited a few of these congregations with this “seeker friendly” attitude and more often than not I’ve come away with the thought, “What a nice rock concert with a little self-help encouragement, but no Biblical teaching or anything that leads to growth in discipleship.”

#JamesA.K.Smith. #ritual. #MegaChurch