Jesus Cropped from the Picture

Jesus Cropped from the Picture

adult Sunday school class and skip corporate worship altogether. Or they may sit in the pew and pray for the pastor’s presentation skills to improve, just like a spectator would do at a seminar that is not very engaging, distracted by thoughts like, “our attendance would be higher if our preacher were more dynamic.” This has to disappoint the One who gave his life to deliver his flock. Although people were created to worship Christ in celebration, too often God is dishonored because his people ignore the Guest of Honor by turning services into personal-growth seminars. Worship services are not occasions to re-fill listeners’ spiritual tank, empowering them to head back out into the world with renewed determination. Instead, worship is a time to remember that the Church is the OBJECT of God’s purposes (the basketball). It is a time to rediscover the Grand Story into which all people have been invited. Every time churches gather to worship Christ, they have an opportunity to “press the re-set button,” to re-orient their lives around the real SUBJECT of the Story. Curtis and Eldredge said that for centuries the church viewed the gospel as “a cosmic drama whose themes permeated our own stories and drew together all the random scenes in a redemptive wholeness. But our rationalistic approach to life, which has dominated Western culture for hundreds of years, has stripped us of that, leaving a faith that is barely more than mere fact-telling. Modern evangelicalism reads like an IRS 1040 form: It’s all true, all the data is there, but it doesn’t take your breath away.” 46

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