The Britsters in the News Again ...

Today is Monday, October 2nd and my wife, a school teacher is home sick. When ever we can we watch the news together (Yes, we are news junkies). And two stories monopolize the air waves; the Amish are remembering that one year ago today, 10 of their children were taken hostage in a one room school house by Charles Roberts, a local postal clerk, who lined the children up against a chalk board and systematically shot them. 6 were killed, while the others survived albeit, one still recovering from a bullet to the head.

The other story? Britany Spears. Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Scott M. Gordon ruled that that ex-husband Kevin Federline would take Sean Preston, 2, and Jayden James, 1, beginning Wednesday "until further order of the court." And what did poor Britany do after turning over the two boys to Federline's body guard? She tanned and then went to the DMV

The Amish were awarded millions of dollars after the shooting of their 6 children. In a huge display of forgiveness, they used several million dollars of that money to make sure the surviving children of Charles Roberts are properly cared for. They have also given large sums to Robert's mother and family. Recently, A picnic was held with the Roberts family and the Amish in attendance. Did we ever hear about that? Was that ever covered by the news channels? Not to my knowledge. If it was in any of the new papers it was buried somewhere on page 15 of the New York Times.

Madonna is making news again. Apparently she is being considered for the Rock and Roll hall of Fame. As Mike Straika wrote in his op ed for Fox, " the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame has long been irrelevant.

The notion that Rush or Todd Rundgren or Ringo Starr is losing any sleep about not being included in a group that includes Grandmaster Flash and will most certainly include Madonna is laughable."

Paris Hilton is always in the Margins along with friend Lindsay Lohan. What is it in us that attracts us to these "news" items while significant contributions or issues like the act of forgiveness by the Amish go unnoticed?

Steve, you may be saying, you are just being your old cynical self. Really? Let me ask you a few questions; what movie won the best picture Oscar last year? What group won the best rock album Grammy last year? Who won an Emmy for best comedy actress just a few weeks ago? According to Guinness, which actor is the world's highest grossing box-office draw? (the answers are "The Departed," the Red Hot Chili Peppers, America Ferrera, and Samuel L. Jackson.)

Maybe you didn't get all the answers correct but I'll bet you are more familiar with hose names than John C. Mather or George Smoot, or Roger Kornberg. They were Nobel Prize Laureates from last year and have made significant contributions to science and the way we live our lives. Edwin Krebs is a Noble Prize winner from 1976 who often comes to town to visit his daughter who attends my church. When he does, he usually comes to one of our services. I am honored that he would attend our services but his coming to the Willamette Valley is greeted with no more fanfare or recognition than a Sunday morning yawn in church! If the Britster were to walk thru the doors, NBC, TMZ, and Dateline would surely be there to cover the story.

What is we are enamored with celebrities and rock stars while truly significant contributions to society and culture go unnoticed? The obvious answer is we live vicariously through the rich and the famous.

And it is my opinion that the church has succumbed to the disease of "celebrity worship" as the secular culture. Many are attracted to the mega churches while much smaller ones, though less recognized, make much more significant contributions. We read in the news how the head of the Evangelical movement in America had a homosexual affair and used Meth but we seldom hear of the pastor who has lived with his wife for 30 plus years and served the Lord faithfully and integrity.

The mega churches get bigger and bigger while the smaller more significant churches struggle just to make ends meet. The irony is many Christians say they demand humility, and integrity from their pastor and fellow parishioners but don't bat an eye at the exorbitant salary and excess in spending.

Why do we allow it to happen? IMHO, it makes us feel better about ourselves. We feel some how that because the church is large, we must be doing something right. Because the church has lots of money it makes our sacrificing a little lless costly.

IMHO the church in America is in danger of losing it's bearings. In the Post Modern-Post Christian culture we live in, new converts are rare. For the most part culture is cynical against organized religion. So, pragmatism mandates that churches go after the same piece of the pie, or other Christians. As a result there is a bidding war in church for you, the parishioner. And the truth of the matter is, in most cases, the pastor who is the most charismatic, has a great personality, or makes Christian service most pleasurable usually wins.

This is not a critique of large churches. In fact I know several large churches that are very significant. It is an indictment against us as Christians. Let's stop and ask why do I do what I do? Certainly there is no excuse for pastors to be boring or lazy, but have we reduced to church to me or the cult of personality? Are we as a church body reaching out to the lost or just trying to attract a crows and call it "successful"? I think it's time we clear the fog from our eyes and examine our lives and our motives. I don't know who it was who said it but an unexamined life is not worth living.