Yesterday, I wondered whether Christians had made a parody of Rebecca Black's Friday, and called it Sunday. They had. I expected it, like most Christian knock-offs, to be bad. It was worse.
Now, I'm not expecting high art or deep theology from a parody of Friday. What struck me first about Sunday was, of course, the excessive poppiness of the song; I'm too much of a grouch to enjoy music that tries to make me like it. What sticks with me, though, is this: God gets mentioned once.
Friday and Sunday both have very high production values: this isn't stuff made by a couple of teenagers with a Flip. Friday was produced by Ark Music Factory, backed by Black's parents.
Who was behind Sunday?
Sunday was made by Community Christian Church, a megachurch near Chicago, as a plug for their Easter services. The ideal audience is potential visitors. Sunday functions as a commercial for a religious institution, with only incidental mention of the Deity himself. This is characteristic of the church acting as an organization seeking to promote its own existence, rather than acting for another goal. What's promoted is the fun times, the "Worshippin', Worshippin' (Yeah)". The lyrics apologize for other churches, “Fun, fun, church can be fun.” It doesn’t say anything about love or release from guilt or a relationship with God being a source of joy.
When I was in high school, I went to a church that had a logo. Ushers got polo shirts with the logo embroidered, church-branded coffee cups and frisbees were given away. My church was unconcerned with social justice. Evangelism that would lead to more church members was much more discussed than remote missionary work. So I made like a self-righteous eighteen-year-old and quit.
And now, as an atheist, I am still bothered when the church focuses on things other than loving God and loving people. If I want to hear a good band, I’ll go to a concert and if I want good psychology, I’ll talk to my counselor. When I go to church, I want religion; I want Christians to engage with their idea of God: I’ll have something to learn from contemplating with them or by thinking about why I disagree with them.
"This is characteristic of the church acting as an organization seeking to promote its own existence, rather than acting for another goal."
ReplyDeletePrepare to see a lot more of this in your long lifetime. Discussing 'God' used to be a hot enough topic to fill the bleachers. In the information age, churches don't exist to educate or convert people, they just *still* exist.
My take on it anyway.
Well said, Cobe. I was thinking of adding another couple of paragraphs, advancing the idea that maybe the marketing and self-promotion are more compelling to people than actual God stuff because God isn't real, but I don't think I could have presented that idea well in this essay.
ReplyDeleteOn a similar note, it's entirely unsurprising that in the absence of solid teaching begetting actual life-transforming power working itself out in obedience, sacrifice, and love, the only thing your church has to offer is "fun."
ReplyDeleteMatthew, have you looked at their website? In the interest of being entertained by flashy-looking church websites that don't have much of the solid teaching or sacrifice or difficulty, I present to you Community Christian Church's page about "The Big Idea":
ReplyDeletehttp://communitychristian.org/pages/aboutus/bigidea
Good luck finding an example of a Big Idea.
"maybe the marketing and self-promotion are more compelling to people than actual God stuff because God isn't real"
ReplyDeleteActually, I go to church to meet with and hear from God. When I see all this other nonsense, I get irritated because it creates so much distraction from the worship of God and the preaching of His Word. If you've met with God in worship, lesser substitutes won't suffice.