A Cereal-Aisle Mentality

I've been struck lately by the consumerist culture that has pervaded the church, and in many ways, taken it over. It's not like this is any news to those of us in the church over the last 20 years, but for a number of reasons, it seems more pervasive than ever. It seems, Christians are expecting the church to be the cereal aisle at the grocery store. Stocked with every flavor, size, taste and shape imagineable, in order to satisfy the wants of the consumer. Give me what I want, how I want it. That's the gist of the consumerist attitude. And it has engrained itself into the church on every level, including worship. So now people "church shop". Now people complain about not "getting fed". Obviously, there are plenty of cases where there may be truth behind this last statement, but instead of taking some personal initiative and ownership of the issue, it's just easier to walk away and find the church that provides the right choice of cereal.


In a recent interview, Wigg Stevenson said,
"The most significant question for the church in a consumerist age is to ask what our situation means. What does it mean to be the church in an era that's so saturated by consumerism that it defines itself by consumption: We buy to be; we are what we buy; we are what we consume. The most important thing that the church can do is to recognize this about our society so as not to follow the consumerist impulse."

If that is indeed the question for the church, then what is the question for the Christian? What do we expect from our churches? What do we expect from our worship? Are we willing to look into the mirror and recognize that it is not always about "me" and "my wants"? Are we willing to be humble and open enough to place our neighbors and the stranger ahead of ourselves? Most importantly, are we willing to reexamine our understanding of the theology of worship (spectator vs. participant), so that the proper perspective (also known as Truth) guides our thinking on what takes place on Sunday mornings?

Or will we simply continue to shop down the cereal aisle until we find what we like?