Tasting our way toward a purchase. . .

When I was a poor college student, we would sometimes load into a car and head to Kroger to the cheese department where they are always offering samples.  I much appreciated the samples and there were times they substituted for a meal.  In any case, they were superbly positioned to contrast with the ordinary and tasteless food then served in college cafeterias.  Because of this I have always had a deep and abiding appreciation for those who serve up food in stores.  Of course, I know they offer samples to entice a purchase but for some of us, the samples were all we were going to get.

Jump up to the present day and when I visit Sam's Club I find the sample carts and those purveying a taste of new and old which you can purchase at a discounted price right there in the club.  Costco and every other similar enterprise have versions of the same.  I do not mean to put them down.  I have walked out of the store with many items tasted at the hands of those offering me a sample.  More often than not, however, I ate because I was hungry in that moment and it smelled good.  When I went back to my cart, I did not avail myself of the sample.  It is certainly not the fault of the smiling face cheerfully offering me a taste.  It is simply because a taste was all I really wanted.

Those who complain about close(d) communion suggest that it is offensive to offer the food of God to some and not to others.  Not to mention that it is hard to get people to stay for the full deal if you refuse them this barest taste of the divine!  Instead of watching the rail, we should be encouraging any and all to come and sample their way into the kingdom of God.  The problem is that most only want the sample and do not even much care to know about anything more.  They are interested in a taste of God but not in the full meal deal.  Furthermore, unlike the samples offered in the hallowed courts of American retailers, this food has the power to harm as well as feed.  It can do harm and more harm than choking on a crumb that went down the wrong pipe.

But that is the problem.  We see religion more in the guise of the great American retailers than we do the House of God.  We see the people in the pew as consumers who must be enticed to purchase God and become a reliable customer of His grace.  We see the whole enterprise as one of choice, consumer satisfaction, and customer loyalty.  So that is how we frame worship and that is how we treat the message.  We have something to sell and we are competing for the same slice of the demographic which might be interested today if we give them a taste, a sample, and little tidbit to whet their appetite.  We no longer seem to see God in this at all.

We have our own sample servers who aid the pastors in turning the distribution into a highly efficient line of tasters of His goodness in the hopes that they might become regular purchasers.  We smile as we serve.  We talk up the product.  We hand over little bits and pieces of God as if He were a piece of chocolate or a slice of cheese.  If this is bad for those new to the Sunday gathering, it is even worse for the regulars.  We create a scenario in which the whole business of worship is rather casual, designed for our satisfaction more than our sanctification, and treat faith as of it were not much different than a consumer whim to bring home what you sampled.  Our people have learned that only too well.  We have succeeded well beyond our wildest dreams in reducing our business with God to a transaction, elevating our role as the consumer, and turning faith into a decision we hope they will not regret next week.  

As I began so let me reiterate here my appreciation for those who serve so cheerfully and politely the samples we love to taste.  They are a special kind of nice person who smiles to offer and smiles even when turned down.  God bless them.  But as much as I appreciate them, that is not what happens in the Divine Service.  We do not give people samples of God to take home in the hopes they will purchase the whole product.  It is not that the Sam's and Costco sample folk are doing something bad.  They are not.  But in the House of God something radically different is happening.  No one samples themselves into the Kingdom of God.  Instead, God calls, gathers, enlightens, sanctifies, washes, absolves, addresses, feeds, and delivers the saved into His Church by the Holy Spirit in what is the mystery of faith.  Why does the Church always want to be more like retail and less like what she alone can be?  Christianity is not a consumer movement.  No one comes except those who are called.  It is God's work even when we fully appreciate it.  If for this reason alone, we must be careful so that the things of God are for the people of God as much as we work to proclaim the Gospel so that this number may daily increase according to God's will and purpose.