I am irritated by show-biz Christianity.
Jesus wanted to know what they went out into the desert to see. Of course we know that it was John (the Baptist), but why?
People today are always looking for a show. It seems that perhaps people have always wanted to be entertained. It’s a lot easier to get a kid to watch a movie than to study schoolwork. It’s a lot easier to get people to come to church for a production than it is to get them into an in-depth dialogue about where and how the things of Christ are to cross the tracks of humanity.
Religion has always been a production, anywhere – at anytime in history. It’s a show. The institution of the ‘church’ isn’t anything at all even remotely similar to the ‘church’ we read of in the New Testament.
That ‘ecclesia’ of the first century met in synagogues for reading and discussion of the Word. However, the women and children weren’t involved there so they continued the dialogue from house to house, and in the courtyard of the temple day to day.
This was serious business, this stuff of being the family of God, the Body of Christ – those gathered ‘out’ of Judaism and other religions. There were many needs to be addressed. There was much to be learned and much to be shared. There were unloved ones to love.
Remembering the days of perfunctory prayer requests at traditional Wednesday evening 'prayer meetings,' I've often laughed about the story of a woman who would always request prayer, every week, for her 'unsaved loved ones.' It was such a ritual that one Wednesday evening she didn't even notice when it came out, "Please pray for my unloved saved ones."
That actually might be an appropriate prayer. There are plenty of ‘saved ones’ who need love. That’s what ‘church’ is for.