“Deliberately Diverse” represents the individual thoughts and opinions of a group of Taylor friends who almost never completely agree about anything but are gratified by the opportunity to stimulate deliberately diverse discussions in our beloved community. Today’s column represents the thoughts and opinions of Wynyard Ellis, NOT the Taylor Press.
This was to be a diatribe about “big box” churches and “super-Christians.” The church is in Louisville, Kentucky. There are many that fit the description. As for “super Christians,” the last I saw were waving signs insisting the rest of us are going to hell.
When Billy Graham came to our East Texas football stadium and said, “come on down,” I went. A revival! Many mega-churches now also meet weekly and on television. Their buildings seem as oversized as their congregations.
At this church, school buses cart the faithful from four corners of a huge parking lot.
Sunday school divides into big, separate rooms, depending on your interest, age, etc. This then feeds into a space that resembles a shopping mall, with snacks, books, Bibles, crosses to wear or display, dashboard St. Francis, and refrigerator magnets with hope, faith, etc.
From here, ushers make sure you don’t get lost.
The mall feeds into the sanctuary, really a big auditorium. The stage has a large glass structure on one end, and mikes, amps and music paraphernalia on the other. Musicians for the service are professionals. With luck, you may see a full immersion baptism in the big glass tank.
Remarkable.
Not for me This seems outsized and commercial. Miles and eons away from the historical Jesus and his teachings or from sacred teachings of other faiths.
Didn’t Jesus throw out the money changers?
Am I sanctimonious and judgmental? Probably. It’s certainly not the “two or three…”. It’s just big!”
But there is good here. Communities are formed. Lasting friendships. Volunteers work with the incarcerated, with people on parole.
The church welcomes migrants and refugees, and there are enough members to make a real difference.
Size is not the problem. But size can mean temptation for the leaders to “become” the church and claim a direct pipeline to God.
Many teach it is wrong to use God-given intelligence because “It’s in The Book.” Like the Sign Wavers, they want to define who goes to “heaven’’ or “hell.” They open the door for fear, and real love disappears. I was in San Francisco when Moscone killed Harvey Milk, and 909 people died in Jonestown. In the name of God. I believe we are called to question teachings that are authoritarian, unforgiving, judgmental, unloving, and likely to be unholy.
The problem is the very definition of love, how love is defined and lived.
Seekers from many denominations and faiths, large and small, can come together in a shared understanding that we need and want to treat one another, the world and its offspring, with love. Creation and its parts are a sacred gift. God is love.
I find my faith with Seekers. In quiet spaces.
In the earth and sky.
In the neighborhood rooster who welcomes the dawn.
“Precious as opal, smooth as jade, more fragile than a bird’s egg.
Infinitesimally, still, live as the root of creation. Not a gift, but a trust. Fiercely to cherish, softly to guard.” — ‘D. Gabalon, “Outlanders”
