Okay, okay

Perhaps my last post was a bit harsh. A bit.

I was in no way ridiculing Waltz and others who take on this consumer-based "seeker-sensitive" approach. My use of the Nazi analogy was to show how other ideologies can obscure the way of the cross. With the Nazis, we have the benefit of history. What blind spots from our civilizationwill Christian historians be studying centuries from now?

I need to add that I am, too, a consumer, and no small one either. I love to buy books, coffee, and music; I love to go to movies; I have a Netflix Queue with 453 movies in it; I have several pairs of jeans, and I have an affinity for sweaters. So I am guilty.

What I'm saying is that we deal with this consumerism crap so much in our daily lives. Why should we perpetuate in the church? The narrative of me-first is a powerful one. Only a church that knows its story--the story of Jesus and his people--and finds itself within that story is going to offer real, lasting hope. Having written this, I'm more inspired to get back into Arthur Simon's How Much Is Enough? Hungering For God in an Affluent Culture.



Surely, there are seeker-senstive churches filled with people who are formed by the narrative of Jesus, and there are churches that ostensibly teach and preach the story of Jesus from the deep wells of tradition but are bent in on themselves and their own preservation. No church is perfect. The trajectory of the church should be towards following Jesus, being willing to forsake all other ideologies in order truly to learn more about what that means. Think Jesus' discourse with the Rich Young Ruler.

In the long run, I think this can be faithful to Waltz's and others' mantra, "because people matter." People matter in light of their Creator, Redeemer, and Sustainer. Without the church, we wouldn't know that.