Holy entertainment. . .

In another age, the social dimensions of the gathering of any religious community were a given which did not detract from the sacred purpose of that gathering.  In the modern age, the social dimensions might be said to have overtaken the sacred purpose and that is true for some.  But it is more likely that the social has also become a casualty of individualism in which the people in the seats are largely silent and passive except to respond to what happens on the stage and to pay for the show.  So much of what passes for worship among those who eschew its liturgical shape is less directed to God than it is to the spectators and less designed to express the reverence of the faithful before God than it is to engage and entertain on a more horizontal level.  Holy entertainment.  A good show.

Oddly enough there are those in Rome who seem to distance what happens within the Mass from the work of the faithful as well.  They would even suggest that partaking of the Sacrament was less than essential to their role within the liturgy and that the role of those in the pews was to pray while the ministers of the Mass do their parts -- like people in the same space but not quite together.  I do not quite get that but even here it cannot be said that the people are merely spectators or that the Mass is designed to satisfy them, entertain them, and make them happy.  Such is surely the unspoken outcome of the successful worship service of so many non-denominational churches and even some within the veil of liturgical churches.

I suppose it could be worse.  Judging from the kind of thing that passes for comedy today, watching a talented preacher and the worship divas lead the religious show is far better.  Yet it betrays what is essentially happening within worship.  We are gathered in the presence of God not to be entertained or even informed and certainly even less to find happiness (as elusive as that is).  We are here at God's command, called by His Spirit, no less.  The voice of His Word has reached more than ears but also the hearts of the faithful.  The water of baptism has become the living womb by which we encounter the new birth of water and the Spirit.  The agenda is clearly God's and we are confronted with His work and the fruits of that work in Christ bestowed through the Word read and proclaimed and the Supper feasted upon and drunk.  Herein we encounter now something other but Christ Himself, continuing what He began and enlightening our darkness and making holy what was not.  It is God's domain, the holy ground upon which we dare not tread unless bidden and given the promise of His intent.  This is hardly entertainment even when it might be entertaining.  

Entertainment parading as worship cannot simply be dismissed as without harm or sterile.  Indeed, when we substitute our agenda for His, it is never left sterile but becomes something twisted and perhaps even destructive. In contrast, when there is genuine faith it will manifest itself in honest reverence for God—whether the ear tuned to hear His voice or the body kneeling with bowed head in prayer or the hunger and thirst of those who come to feed the body, yes, but primarily the soul.  Indeed, when reverence is replaced with entertainment, it is no longer what belongs to or befits the house of God.  When we preach to gain smiles or tell jokes to lighten the mood, when we use the appeal of the heart and focus on feelings, we have left God behind in the dust and deprived ourselves of the gift of the eternal meant for this time and this place.  Feel good religion is dangerous enough but a religion which prefers the things that people want for the things that God uses to give them life and healing is one that is destined to starve to death the faithful who are drawn to them and deprive those who do not yet know Him of any real encounter with the mighty God of their salvation.

We find this in sanctuaries across America and in the various media outlets which continue to proffer the sale of a happy heart to a people longing for one.  But what we will not find in such holy entertainment is enough life to sustain the weary through their journey or the clear path to where that journey is to end before God's eternal throne.  No, this is not simply about taste or preference or even about satisfying people.  It is the difference between being knowing God as He has said He wishes to be known and knowing a facsimile of this God created by our own disordered hearts and desires.  The liturgy is needed not simply for what it offers but also for what it prevents or at least discourages.  It is like the parent who clothes the child for the weather outside and not simply to make the child happy.  So we are kept by the firm ground of God's own order, gifts, and guidance because without them we would degenerate into simply what makes us laugh or makes us happy -- none of which is enough to rescue us from sin and death.