Religious extremism
Mehta points out that Christianity has many nationally prominent personalities who embarrass the church. He particularly criticizes those who announce that natural disasters and epidemics are God’s vengeance on the U.S., homosexuals, etc.
His suggested solution is simple: when some preacher says something stupid that receives national publicity, denounce him. Make clear from the pulpit that we don’t agree with such things.
I think he’s right. For that matter, I’d think we’d do well to encourage our most prominent leaders to denounce such statements publicly — even on national TV where the issue merits it. The world needs to see that the nuts in pulpits don’t speak for Christians in general.
On the other hand, Mehta, not being a part of the church, doesn’t realize how often that already happens. In fact, if anything, we may be too willing to criticize each other! The problem is often that the national media fails to pick up the story as they have little interest in helping the church improve its reputation.
Confusing rituals and traditions
I personally have a problem with rituals in church for one simple reason: I don’t believe everyone present knows why they are performing a certain action. …
And when I visited churches, even if the members knew why they were going through a ritual, I didn’t always know the reason behind it. …
It’s the same with church traditions. Why structure every church service the same?
These are thoughtful, important questions. Being seeker sensitive means being aware that people are present who don’t understand communion or why we do communion as we do. It means being aware that many visitors will be uncomfortable when the collection plate comes by.
The solution is simple enough. Offer an explanation in the bulletin or be sure someone says that visitors aren’t expected to give (very briefly, with no sense of self-congratulation).
Most communion meditations explain something of the meaning of the event. However, the worst ones talk about what communions isn’t about — rambling on about consubstantiation or whatever. That’s a deeply mistaken approach — giving offense to any Lutheran or Catholic in the audience while doing nothing to explain the meal to a visitor.
