I Went to a Cookout and…..

My Facebook post said it all: “ I went to a cookout, and a high school graduation broke out!”

Attending the commencement program for my niece and nephew, I was absolutely shocked at what the audience deemed as appropriate attire. Grown men were wearing shorts, grown women were wearing shorter than short shorts, so you can imagine what the younger crowd was wearing. In an air-conditioned gymnasium, nonetheless. I thought to myself, “What kind of message is this sending to these graduates? ‘You graduated…big whoopee’?”

I graduated on a warm, muggy evening in 1981, in an old gym with no air conditioning, ineffective fans, and horrible acoustics. The janitors had the good sense to leave all the doors open. Even then, the importance of the occasion was not lost on the crowd. Men and women dressed appropriately – not for a wedding or a funeral, mind you, but to show honor and respect to those who were being honored. They knew the gravity of the event.

Our society has become one of casualness toward things that should be serious in nature. I’ve seen it at weddings and funerals, graduations and the like. We seem to be more concerned with what makes us comfortable than the meaning of the event. And you can probably guess where this trend – and article – is going.

Ours is a time when those things that were once considered sacred are no longer thought of as such. Beside the general trend of seeing regular church attendance as unnecessary, those who do go have long before considered what they wear to church as unimportant. It is true that God considered the heart before the outward appearance. And Jesus himself said that we must worship in spirit and in truth, placing the emphasis on the attitude and the authority in worship.

In our rush to become more accommodating to a generation (or generations) that have become less interested in orthodox Christianity, and more interested in worldly things, we have been quick to judge and dismiss those who believe that there is a place for reverence in the worship and service of God. Seemingly lost in this time frame is a truth that the focus should not be on God, but ourselves. Those on the other side of this argument would loudly deny it, and I don’t doubt their sincerity.

I don’t blame them. I blame us – my generation. In a fight with the world for the souls of our children, we have tried to accommodate and lure them back to the faith with “theotainment” ( a term coined by Dr. Al Mohler), casualness, and a general desire to look as much like the world as we can, without becoming part of it. Looks to me like we lost that one. As a result, we sense of what is sacred and what is not…..

This will be continued. In the meantime, consider this. There is nothing sacred about a church building. It is only an expedient, designed to help us focus on the task at hand. What is sacred is not “what”, but “who”. Its not about us; it’s about “you know Who”.

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