The Messenger Church in an Age of Spectacle
Magnolia Baptist Church
"Every person a place to serve and a place to belong." November 2012
This past summer I watched Meredith Viera interview Danny Boyle, this year’s Olympic Opening Ceremony director. Viera posed a difficult question to Boyle: She inquired how Boyle’s ceremonies could ever supersede the Opening Ceremonies from Beijing in 2008.
Internet memes, the most outlandish stunts and the “biggest and the best” of whatever our endeavor is.
Boyle’s answer was wise. He replied that, in essence, it was impossible to top the Beijing ceremonies, so he would simply attempt to create an Opening Ceremony that was faithful to the heritage and contribution of the United Kingdom.
The Church possesses the Gospel of God become human, living and serving among us, dying a sacrificial death on a cross, being resurrected to new life and giving the gift of His Spirit. On its own terms— God became human!—this truth supersedes any sort of spectacle we might hope to generate of our own effort.
It was, I think, the perfect answer. But then the Opening Ceremonies began. If you watched the Opening Ceremonies this year, you understand Boyle’s project was hardly a model of understatement. It was a celebration of the highest order featuring Queen Elizabeth, James Bond, Mr. Bean and a legion of Mary Poppins battling He-WhoShall-Not-Be-Named. Perhaps Boyle believed he could not compete with the Beijing ceremonies. But he was, at the end of the day, creating an event that can only be described as spectacle.
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Over against the society enamored with spectacle, the Church has been given something completely different.
But, in practicality, even those of us in the Church seem to believe we need a bit of spectacle. The spectacle of the Church focuses on service, hiddenness, the washing of feet and self-sacrifice. This is exactly opposite of what most of us are used to. And so we are caught in a dilemma.
Of course, spectacle is the steady diet of those who exist in the 21st century.
Each week where both believers and non-believers sit—ready to varying degrees—to hear the good news, people gather, but instead of seeking an encounter with the living God. We gather to experience music that moves us, preaching that inspires us, and community that connects us. But what we really want is spectacle.
We fill our time with the most recent
We long to see something great and