The Mechanized Church - A history of change
The Mechanized Church
Start with the history of agriculture. If you didn’t grow it, catch it, or trade for
it, then you didn’t eat it or wear it or use it. Pretty much that is the way of life until things
started to change in the mid 1400’s.
Steel became a reason for that change, and with it came a streamlining
of the effects of that change. The
economic terms deal with specialization and urbanization. The idea was that by becoming a tradesman I
could trade my craftsmanship for your labor and then I could eat and you could
get more productive. I could make a plow
for you and you could grow more crops. I
could make a set of gears for you and you could make a mill to grind those
crops more efficiently. By putting these
groups in proximity to each other the process of the miller, the machinist and
the stores to sell the goods of commerce there was now a town to be developed.
There was a shift in this process when things became even
more specialized and the industrial revolution was given steam power. Bigger, stronger, faster, repeated uniformity
and volume driven prices. Now there is a
new issue, a work week. Stability and security of the task and the company and
the workers allowed for the introduction to the middle class that which only
the elite once enjoyed, leisure time and the toys that went with it.
In our day, we have moved to the third division, that of
service. What started as field work and
fixing your own green beans, moved to going to the store and buying both canned
green beans and fresh ones flown in from some tropical climate for your winter
meals. Specialization had matured and
developed. But now we want someone to
cater to us. We don’t make the pizza at
home any more we get it delivered. We
don’t need to know how to make the graduation cakes, they come from a caterer
or the store. We have our shirts pressed
and delivered. It is about service that
allows our free time to have such dominance in value. You can delegate those odious tasks like
doggie-do removal or mowing your lawn so that you can enjoy your afternoon, or
change the oil in your car in a jiffy by stopping by a convenient spot along
the way. And so it goes. You can make a living filling any of these
needs and people will gladly pay to have you do the dirty work they choose not
to.
But where are we now?
Not simply service, but entertainment.
Now I need an “experience” to make this activity really complete. So there is surround sound. But then came the Projection screen for your
TV and movies. Do you have the vibrating
chairs for the “TV” room furniture or are you simply unaware that they exist
and you are cheating your children of a complete childhood. Do you have the latest? Greatest? Best? There is no top to this list, of course. And the rate of growth is staggeringly
increasing by the rate of its growth increasing…
What is that to do with the church and being “relevant” to
this culture and how it is changing?
Well, lets start with the “agrarian” model. The baseline verse is found in Judges, “and
every man did as was in his heart”.
Seems a likely place to begin since there was little teaching and much
isolation. Move forward to urbanization
and you find conformity and directed behaviors.
The offerings were similar, though may be varied in style or promoted
results. You could have lots of quiet,
or lots of preaching, or lots of rules, or lots of freedom, but all centered
around a place, a time and a set of guidelines.
There were expected dress codes and behaviors for each of these
groups. Most thought the remaining to be
apostate, and felt good when that was reinforced from their leaders. The cooking cutter versions meant that there
would be a similar version in any town that you went to, and you could
participate like a replaced cog in a machine, for that is what it was. This was a great machine producing great
products for a very long time. Some
component changes and upgrades were used in all of the versions, and some were
only added to some models. Everyone took
on the pews, some the musical instruments and some the microphones and
speakers. Some added a fellowship hall
and some did not. Some were somber and
some celebrated, but all were content in their cloister. Until there was growth of a different
nature. Service demands from some meant
that there would need to be a cushion in the pew, or an overhead projector so
we can see. Those needing help with
hearing aids and those wanting a second service to meet their needs came
calling as well. Some of these were the
direct need of a growing group or the demographics of that group, as the baby
boomers age their demands changed.
Sometimes it was a little less of the strident preaching and more of the
“love story” of the gospel. And changes
kept coming. Now there is coffee and
lots of choice for creamers and perhaps a latte bar as well. Have your pews
turned into “theater seating” with cup holders?
They are out there in churches, even if your church doesn’t have them.
So, what next?
Obviously, it is already here, if not in your church then in one of the
ones in town. The “fresh experience” of
church is the idea that the “worship event” on Saturday nite is going to
replace the Gospel message on Sunday, because we need to go boating (insert
your favorite experience) instead. It is
found in the X-Box controller that has your kid’s attention that will need to
be a part of the future church if they are to come. Already there is a pattern of preaching that
allows and encourages the use of your cell phone to fact check the pastor mid
sermon, on little biblical facts as well as anecdotal homilies told to amplify
a point. We are “experiencing” church in
a very different way than our parents in the “mechanized” version of church.
So, what then? Well,
first understand that it is here. Slow to creep in, and seemingly intractable
in its progress, it is here in pieces that seemed to make sense when we did
them, but as a whole, seem to be an astounding departure for some of us. What next? Recognize that it is a “style” and
not the character of the church. Unless
you let it become so. It is simply the
next phase in the constantly moving trajectory of the technology curve. Like electronic organs and air conditioning
before them, theater seating and tele-church events are simply the next level
of life. Pod casts, twitter feeds, live
streaming, laser shows and communion on Sunday.
It is not three hymns, two scriptures and a 20 minute sermon with a
doxology any more.
What are we to do then? Get in front of it, embrace it or
catch up to it, as your church demographics require. Keep the boundaries clear. It is an expression of the body and not the
body of Christ. Gospel, Communion of the
saints, Baptism may all be different for some of us, and even uncomfortable
enough to retreat to a “safe group” of reluctant and recalcitrant worshipers
listening to the Gaither band, while our parents listen to the Wesley Brothers
hymn book… See it has happened before.
But that is style, not substance.
Preach the crucifixion, or you can’t have the redemption. Hold fast to the cross and the empty tomb,
and do a latte with your Chrismas carols, but go to the nursing homes and the
out cast and the shut-ins. Deal with the
shallow attention span and the current fad, but also speak to the pattern of
addiction and the power of the “next thing”.
Speak to the safety of the church for the hurting and the need to have
maturity for the ones that will grow to know their need. Give them a place at the table with you when
the shallow and the empty calories crash and tell them again of the place to
get some bread. But have some bread for
them when they come. Don’t be “hip” for
the sake of hip and then not have some meat for them when they are hungry, or
it is you that will be cast aside and walked on. And rightly so…
So, in Judges (17:5) there was a notion that every man would
do as he would see fit. That is Agrarianism.
Then in the book of Acts (6:1-6) there was a division of labor as the
disciples were doing the leading and the believers were doing the gathering and
meeting the needs of the body. That is Mechanization. Later on, Paul (Colossians 2:1-23) was calling to the mature
to be with the needy ones and eat meat if they ate meat and not if they didn’t. Serve and be as the towns folk that you came
upon, by way of speaking to them in their own way of learning, but with the
character of the Gospel. That is Service. And now, here we are again, at
experience, and “every man did as was on his own eyes” is where we will be for
a while to come. It has the look of a
man making an idol out of silver and hiring a priest for him and his
family. It looks like idolatry, for
mostly it is. It feels hollow and
shallow, and it is. It is empty and
unsatisfying because it is about pleasure and not substance. It is the Siren’s call to please and placate
this yearning, in the name of attendance and numbers. It should be the result of numbers not the
call to attract them. It should be as a
step to the Gospel, not the call of the addicted and those yearning for
distraction and palliatives for the cry of their empty hearts. It is all the more then astounding when the
true call to one’s heart string comes.
It is that clear note that vibrates deep in our being, that then we know
that the distractions and empty fluff is removed. But that is generally after much pain and
stress.
The Mechanized church of our parents is all but gone. The Service church of our day is in its
finishing phase, and it will take some time to complete. This “Experience” phase, (Judges 17:5
version) is here, and it may be only in small parts of your exposure to it, but
not for your kids or your kid’s friends, who will be your “youth ministry”
problem in the coming years. And what is
it that you should do? Be ready. Be
understanding. Be patient. It is the sign of the times that we are
in. You can’t go back to Mechanization,
that will drive them away. You can’t
stay at Social Experience, that is so “yesterday” and “unfulfilling” … but you
can tell them about the character and the heart of the Gospel, and the
redemption, and the call to the individual to express and create out of that
which is written in their heart. It is
there and wants to come out. Embrace
that reality in the cloak of the one that can meet it in the full. They know they are broken, for they were created
with the “God shaped void” just as you.
Tell these new beggars where you found bread. You will then rejoice with them that rejoice,
and it will be well with your soul.
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