It is nice to see, the uncomfortable feeling of the gaudy glitter invasion is not limited to the church.
This morning’s New York Times had an article regarding the sport of bowling becoming “an impossibly complicated, noisy mess.”
Times writer, David Belcher describes it this way:
…[I]n Manhattan today the [bowling], like so much else here, has become an impossibly complicated, noisy mess. Bouncers check dress codes at the door. A dress code at a bowling alley? We’re wearing other people’s shoes, for Pete’s sake. There are dimly lighted “bowling clubs” with dance floors and lanes drenched in neon and giant flat-screen televisions blasting music videos.
In an attempt to reach more people, the church is following the same path—breaking away from the “the way it was meant to be: unpretentious, inexpensive…”
Of bowling, Belcher writes:
…[A] wave of trendy nightclub horror has swept through the lanes of Manhattan. Attitude-spewing bouncers and miniskirted women in high heels have replaced the blue-collar ambience of paunch and polyester. Thumping music now drowns out the thundering crash of a strike or the cheering at an unexpected spare.
Are we going that direction with the church? Have we already stepped too far?
People tell me that “we must do this to reach people”, but is that what church is about? Reaching people through becoming something else? Conforming to the culture rather than giving people a place to rest from the culture? Offering a club atmosphere rather than offering a moment of true peace and happiness through Christ?
We have enough clubs in the world—we need churches…and a quiet game of bowling as well.