After a winter of enduring the painful and humorous auditions of thousands of Americans and after the trimming process of Hollywood, the hype of American Idol has reached a fever as pitch. The field has been cut down to the ten contestants who will tour the nation this summer. Tonight, contestants will stride out onto the stage and be judged on their appearance, song selection, stage presence, and most importantly, the quality of the vocal. The chosen ten seek the votes of the masses and know they will sweat out the elimination the following night. It is all a very slick package.

There are times when a church gathering is treated like an American Idol show. The judges roll in, give their initial responses in their facial expressions and then give their comments on the way out the door. Did the service start on time? How was the song selection? Too many hymns or praise songs? Were the right instruments used with their volumes at the correct level? How long was the sermon? Was there enough humor? Did the speaker make eye contact with all parts of the audience equally? Was that video clip or drama necessary and appropriate? All that we want to avoid are the words, “First of all preacher, I really like your outfit”

Churches should seek to be prepared and orderly in their cooperate worship. The issue is when someone who should be coming as a participating worshipper instead comes to a worship gathering expecting to be entertained, patted on the back, and fed. The Bible does give us a metaphor in which leaders “feed the flock,” but it is not the only metaphor. The Bible also mentions disciples growing from spiritual infancy, moving from liquids to solid food. My niece is 16 months old and has been feeding herself for months, yet there are some “long-time Christians” who still complain about not being fed. This sort of attitude accentuates the age-old gap between clergy and laity, between those on the stage and those who aren’t. This is simply a tentacle of a beast (some of you need to calm down and think scary squid, not prophecy in Revelation and Daniel) that thinks of church as a place and an activity when it is a group of people committed to transforming the world. The church is not a place or activity; it is a group of people.

The church is called to be the united body of Christ; this cannot be a reality if we come to be judge or to be a minority coming to perform and then be judged. So enjoy American Idol and let’s all hope Sanjaya gets voted off, but realize that the judge hat is put away when we are seeking to be the church.

Quick Hints:

It still shocks me how people are “famous for being famous” in our society. All it takes to be a celebrity is to be on a reality show or have bank. It is no wonder with the excessive amount of entertainment news. The question is why America has such a hunger for stars?

Isn’t it sad how physical appearance dictates so much in our society? There have been several times I have been watching Idol and wonder how a person is still in the competition. They are getting the hormonally charged adolescent vote despite being the worst contestant in terms of talent.