Relevence

What does it mean to be relevant? Current, with the program, in the know, hip, cool, edgy? Right now, to me, it means that you are able to be taken seriously. That people do not write you off before you get to what it is you are trying to say... you with me?

Apparently, the Buick was once relevant. It wasn't when I was a kid. I was kind of embarrassed when my Mamma and Dad bought a blue and white Buick with Navy blue velour seats. That was in the eighties. Kids now have never even heard of a Buick. That's what happens when you fail to be relevant. Just ask Rick Wagoner, ex CEO of General Motors. Or the folks at the Rocky Mountain News. You'll make news if you don't stay relevant, it just might not be the kind you were trying to make.

I'm going to borrow my pastor, Dan Scott's soap box for just a second here and say that there are many modern churches that have confused plain old ignorance with being a proper Christian. I, along with Dan, reject that idea. If we continue to insist that the world is flat just because that is what we grew up hearing and that "round" nonsense just makes us uncomfortable, then that means we are stupid.

Now, being one who has, for many years, complained about the new praise chorus' lack of depth and melodic content, I am guilty of throwing out the baby with the bathwater when it comes to being aware of what is current in church worship music. I'm working on that. Maybe it would be more accurate to say God is working on me about that.

The point I am trying to make is that it is entirely possible to show great respect for our parents, and grandparents customs while responding to the world around us. If we do not, we will certainly go the way of the Buick. The world will go right on without our voice. Without our contribution. Without salt!

If I have ever heard this particular idea preached in church before, I am struggling to remember it. And I have been in a lot of church services. If you count fifty-two Sundays in a year, not even counting Sunday nights, Wednesday nights and revivals, over thirty-five years.. OK, knock off five cause I got "saved" when I was six so let's say that was when I started listening, that's around eighteen-hundred and twenty sermons I've heard, and this new idea comes along that proclaims it is not just OK to be "with it," that it may even be important! Dang. He's a dad gum revolutionary y'all!

This is loosely based on a sermon Dan preached a few weeks ago called "Leaving a Legacy." You can hear it or even watch it at http://christchurchnashville.org. You'll find it under sermons. If you are willing to do that though, I'm probably not really talking to you. Still, do it. You won't be sorry.