Christmas Production

Did someone send you an E-Christmas Card this year? With an electronic newsletter? Yeah...I got that too. Its rare that our generation actually uses stamps! Maybe I should go ahead and auto schedule e-cards for the next 10 years to be emailed on Christmas Eve. I bet I can do it from an iphone! Heck I can record video messages and have a soundtrack playing in the background! Not a traditional Christmas song, of course, maybe a pop icon's version of All I Want for Christmas is a Wii. Or Wii Wish You A Merry Christmas. Sometimes I wish we could go back....when there were CAR phones in case of emergency and people actually "caught up" in person, in letters or thru a lengthy phone conversation.

My favorite part of Christmas is coming home and going to the Christmas Eve church service with my family. I have such awesome memories of attending in my pjs as a child and reuniting with old friends as I grew up.

Our church is enormous and has members from all walks of life which is part of what makes it unique and part of what makes it so inviting. Over the past few years, our church has changed...some say "evolved."

This was expected when our original pastor retired and handed over the reigns to his replacement. But now it seems that I barely recognize the church that had such a huge part in framing the christian that I am today.

Now it seems that going to church is more a production than ever before. Complee with programs that advertised upcoming concerts, a 4 minute message from our pastor, the trio that rocked out to an electric guitar and a version of Joy to the World that no one could sing along to and the complete absence of any traditional Christmas hymns. I left feeling disappointed and cheated.

I very much support Praise music in churches. I think it reaches out to those who didn't grow up in a church or who are looking for a more modern/contemporary service. I was raised where we had Praise music during our Wednesday night bible studies or in youth group. It was extremely rare to hear that in "Big Church" as we called it. The women wore dresses, hose and heels and the men wore ties. You dressed up, you sang hymns, you read scripture and you studied the bible. The pastors message reached you and made you think...but the message was scripture and how to apply it.

I can't help but feel that modern churches focus so much time and energy on the performance and production and less on the message.

To me, it's not about the stage lights, the sound board, the band, the video screen (grrr...thats a soap box in itself...i don't want to see advertisements or commercials, tell me what i need in the program) It's not about having the newest cool christian song cause guess what, when you ask me to stand and sing along...if i have to read the video screen for the words that is not cool!).

I miss the days where we would sing as a congregation and you would hear harmony through out the crowd because they were songs we knew by heart. How am I supposed to harmonize if I don't know the melody?

I don't need a glamorous church. I remember when the glamorous aspect to the service was a solo or a small group and maybe a handbell performance. Where has that gone?

I'm tempted to write a note to the new pastor but I'm afraid he won't even read it or care. I think he has plans for this church that include erasing everything that it was except for the real estate.

So how is it, at 28 years old, I suddenly feel like an old person? Where are the churches that have a hymnal in each row that don't collect dust? Are we losing focus? I don't believe in adapting or modernizing the bible to meet our needs....we are supposed to adapt ourselves to meet his needs.

I guess I have to go searching thru podcasts for a video of what church used to be. Should I start in the "oldies" section? Mabye someone will send me another Ecard christmas card or txt me information.