As one who works with youth, I often feel the pressure or need to spice up the Christian story and make it more engaging, relevant, or fun. In much of the literature that is deemed “Youth Ministry” or in some of the examples set forth as “successful youth ministries,” what works is when the Christian message is accompanied with a some flash, a little razzle dazzle, and just the right amount of pizzazz! The youth of today are bombarded with so much entertainment and excitement, that if we want to keep up in today’s society, we need to meet kids where they are at. We need to live in their world, speak their language, turn our radio dials to the same wavelength*. Or so they say.
It’s hard not to be enticed by some of this thinking, especially when the church’s that implement some of these “tricks of the trade” have youth groups that are 10 times larger than mine. And if McDonald’s has taught me anything, its that if it’s bigger, its better.
Today while reading The Whimsical Christian by Dorothy L. Sayers, I was reminded that the impulse to spice up Christianity actually stems from a truncated and shallow view of the Christian story. Her words are worth repeating.
So that is the outline of the official story – the tale of the time when God was the underdog and got beaten, when he submitted to the conditions he had laid down and became a man like the men he had made, and the men he had made broke him and killed him. This is the dogma we find so dull – this terrifying drama of which God is the victim and hero.
If this is dull, then what, in Heaven’s name, is worthy to be called exciting? The people who hanged Christ never, to do them justice, accused him of being a bore – on the contrary, they thought him too dynamic to be safe.
What a beautiful reminder. For those who are journeying with Christ, we do not find ourselves jumping into a dull or dreary dogma. Rather we now find ourselves as participants, members – nay – characters (albeit minor ones) in the greatest story ever told! If that’s not exhilerating then maybe we’ve been binge watching Netflix a bit too much, and have lost an understanding of what’s truly exciting.
*And what better metaphor to further distance myself from today’s youth than a radio. Worst metaphor ever.
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