Just a Few Rantings...... Reader Beware

So I'm about to get on a religious soapbox. If you're offended by someone having a different view than your own, stop reading now....... So I have 2 different topics that weigh on my mind. The first is the whole Chick-Fil-A thing. I know I wrote a FB post about it the other day, and that was basically my thoughts in a nutshell, but I thought I'd elaborate just a bit. I think that deciding where you eat or boycotting a place to eat based on their owner's politicial/religious/moral beliefs is just stupid. If you like their food - eat there. If not, go elsewhere. First of all, CFA has been closed on Sunday since day one. Did you think this was a coincidence? No - he's a Christian and wants his employees to have a "day of rest" with their families and go to church. Have you ever seen oriental or other ethnic restaurants closed for other certain holidays that coincide with their religious beliefs? I have. So did you stop eating there bc the owners believe differently than you? And I'm not preaching on the side of CFA. I think the ones screaming "WE SUPPORT" are just as ridiculous as those boycotting. For those who support, do you avoid shopping at certain retail stores, gas stations, restaurants, or any other merchant because the owners are atheists, Hindu, Buddhist, Muslims, or anything else? Or do you even research into their backgrounds to see what they are? I bet you don't. So don't act like you're some big supporter only bc he's a Christian. If you agree with him, great. But don't make it some big issue. In order for any of this crap to make sense or be valid, we're all going to have to start "supporting" or "boycotting" every single place that we patronize based on their religious affiliation. And I promise you, your shopping venues are going to shrink dramatically. You know that store, Altar'd State at Renaissance in Ridgeland? I'm almost positive it's owned by Pentecostals. Now I think we believe some different things, but they sure do sell some darn cute clothes! So I'll continue shopping there, because when I need a dress, or a cute shirt, or a pair of pants, I don't care if you pray every night before bed or not. I just want a cute outfit! So I certainly don't care if all you're doing is serving me a chicken sandwich. People on both sides of this fence shout "Tolerance!!" but yet neither side is willing to be tolerant of the other side. You have your opinion and they have theirs - agree to disagree. It's a rather simple concept. And Dan Cathy has the right to his opinion. He didn't say he wouldn't serve or employ gays/lesbians. He simply said he didn't agree with it. SO BE IT!! So let's not make simple, meaningless decisions, like meal choices, based on race, religion, ethnicity, sexual orientation, or the likes. Seriously. It's just food. So my second topic is the whole "contemporary church service." Now I know a whole bunch of folks are going to get their panties in a wad, but this is my opinion. I'm not debating right or wrong- I just disagree. I attended the "contemporary" service a couple of times at our church in recent months (once bc of power issues, and once bc Robert played bass in the "band"). I was against it when they decided to start it years ago, but I never attended, so I didn't give much opinion on it. Weeeeeeellll, now I have, so here it is. For me, church is a place for reverence and respect for the Lord. Church is a place to go and be quiet and pray and reflect on your relationship with Him. Church is a place to lift your fears and worries and doubts to God and ask for His help. Church is also a place where, as a small child, I learned to sit still, be quiet, and pay attention for long periods of time. I learned to read music from a hymnal, learned to read along as a group, practiced finding scripture in the Bible, and learned that when you go somewhere of importance, you look your best. Now in my opinion, contemporary worship services do the complete opposite of everything I just said. You don't have to be quiet, or still, or pay any attention because it seems that's where all the "thirty-somethings" go with their kids so they can be annoying. You don't have to wear anything nice, you can just go in shorts and ratty t-shirts and flip flops and no one cares. You can sing songs from a screen that simply repeat the same words 17 thousand times and never have to lay eyes on a single, solitary piece of music. The melodies and choruses are so predictable and mundane, I can't stand it. I thought Robert was going to jump off the stage before he could finish playing the songs he had to play. All of the skills I stated earlier are incredibly important life skills for children. When they go to school, they are not going to have a clue how to sit still, be quiet, or pay attention, because their parents never taught them how. Church is the most obvious place for children to be taught those skills. We wonder why kids today are so "bad" and get in trouble and we have the need for all these "behavior plans" in elementary schools?? THAT'S WHY!! They're being allowed to wiggle and squirm and talk during church. People always comment on how well-behaved Caroline is when we're at band concerts or Attache or other places, and you know why she's well behaved?? Because she has ALWAYS gone to "big church" with us. Always. She's been taught to be quiet, sit still, and be sweet. Does she listen to the preacher? No - she's 4. But she colors her church picture quietly, she whispers quietly if she has a question, she wears nice clothes, and she will be prepared when she goes to school! The set-up of contemporary services also bugs me. It feels like a make-shift camp, with folding chairs and removable music equipment and everything is plugged into something electronic. The preacher uses a laptop. Now, I have no problem with this type of set-up if you're at a weekend camp, summer camp for kids, or some foreign country where you're trying to spread the word of God and you don't have much to work with. I get it. Certain situations call for certain things. But the amount of money that has been put into these types of worship centers in these contemporary churches could feed a small country! I know for a fact that a certain church in my area has spent almost a half a million dollars on media equipment.......!!!!!! NO - I'm not exaggerating, I actually think it's more than that. Including playstations, Wii consoles, coffee/Latte' machines, pool tables, etc. Church has become a playground for the youth groups. "Let's lure them in with video games and Starbucks and then we'll serve them the Kool-Aid!!" I just don't get it. Now don't misunderstand my frustration. I'm not saying that these people aren't Christians and attempting to spread the word of God. I just think their form of worship is irreverent, disrespectful, and unnecessary, and they have been misguided somewhere along the way. If you dress nicer for a job interview than you do to go worship the Lord, then something is wrong. If you have more respect for a stranger you're trying to impress than you do for God, something is wrong. Now I realize that one person's "best" is not the same as the next. I have no problem with the struggling young family who comes in hand-me-down clothes. My child wears hand me down clothes too. Or the mom who comes looking a little ragged from a rough morning with multiple children. I get it and I'm a realist. This has nothing to do with money or status or impressing people at church. I have dresses I've had for years that I wear to church. Some people probably think I only own 4 of them. And during summer months when it's a thousand degrees outside, I'm ok with "casual" attire for a few months. I simply mean that Mr. X showing up in blue jeans and tennis shoes and a t-shirt in October, when I KNOW he could dress nicer, kinda pisses me off. We get more worked up in the south over women wearing white after Labor Day than we do over what people wear to worship God. It's simple laziness and we as a church have decided that it's ok, just so we can appeal to the masses. The big "reason" behind it at my particular church in the beginning was "we want to appeal to those who don't enjoy the formal service. And we want those who don't come because it's too hard to get everyone dressed in the morning to still come even if they're wearing their pajamas." Well guess what? If you don't want to be Methodist and say the Affirmation of Faith #881- The Apostles' Creed, then GO SOMEWHERE ELSE. If you don't want to sing the Gloria Patri - GO SOMEWHERE ELSE. If you don't want to sing hymns out of the hymnal or recite the Lord's Prayer, GO SOMEWHERE ELSE. That's what we do. We're Methodist. And if you can't muster up enough energy to throw a sundress on your kid instead of play clothes, you've got bigger fish to fry than making it to church. I've never been to a restaurant that didn't serve mashed potatoes and said "but can you get me some anyway....?" If you don't like what we do here, GO SOMEWHERE ELSE. But noooooo........ we're going to give the squeaky wheel the oil. I hate squeaky wheels, and I don't oil them. I get new ones that don't squeak. Now many of you will say "if you're worshipping God and the message is still getting across, that other stuff doesn't matter." But that's where I think you're wrong. It does matter to me and lots of other people. It matters that you respect God's house by looking your best. It matters for your kids to learn how to behave. It matters that you spent millions on video screens, cameras, drum sets, and playstations when children are starving or being abused. It matters.