WEDNESDAY, MARCH 10

Mark 10:21  Jesus said, “Go, sell what you own, and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.”

I found it interesting that I received the request to submit a Lenten devotional while I was streaming a football game from San Diego on my computer.  During the broadcast there was a commercial from a San Diego mega church that was very much aimed at young adult males.  Since then, I’ve been thinking about it primarily because how at variance it seemed to be with how I understand what we do at First, and especially what we seek to do during Lent.  I asked Dr. J. about it and he told me it is the result of something the publications are calling “Guy Church.”  I want to tell you about it and ask you to reflect on it with me.

The commercial claimed that if you attended their service you would find that: the music was real loud, you would find something pertinent to your life, you wouldn’t hear anything weird, and most importantly you would be there for less than an hour and thus wouldn’t be at risk of missing any activities having to do with Charger’s games.

My marketing/advertising instincts told me that they were very clever, telling young men what they might want to hear about their Church but for me at least it didn’t square with my understanding of Lent, not to mention the story where Jesus meets a rich young man that is found in Mark 10:17-27.

If I understand the commercial correctly, they are telling these young men that there is no need for change, at least not at this Church because that would be something weird and uncomfortable for them.

Contrast this to Lent or the story of the rich young man which ask us to deliberately put ourselves in a place where we must change, trying to add or subtract something from our environment that keeps us from our focus on God.  Any marketer in their right mind would tell us that this is crazy and very poor marketing, but maybe that’s the point.

Prayer:  Gracious God: Thank you for the tradition of Lent, a time when we can focus on you and what you would have us do and be. A time when we can seek to tune out the distractions of our culture that tell us that everything is about us, as we truly seek to have everything we are be about you.  Amen.

Terry Chaney