One of the blogs I subscribe to posted this recently. I literally laughed out loud!

Lark is a news site that pokes fun at the Christian sub-culture, but in a very funny way. It’s like “the Office” of news blogs. The material is fictional, but it doesn’t read that way. The first time I came across this site I did a double take, thinking the content was real.

What made me laugh so hard was because the the situation described in this fictional story wasn’t too far off from something that I knew happened in another church. How funny.

It brings up a really good point though. More than it has in a very long time, I feel the church is becoming more relevant to the world. That is good. However, I wonder if some churches are becoming “too relevant.” Although this article talks about how the youth pastor was practicing how to drop a swear word into a sermon to get attention, I’ve had conversations with people about this very subject. I’ve met people who honestly believe that swearing may help them be more relatable to those they are trying to reach. I’m not so sure that’s a strategy worth taking.

The other thing I’ve noticed in the “authenticity” movement is a tendency to get complacent with some habits, actions or words we use. We say words or do things that are questionable and slap the “hey, I’m just being authentic” label on it and feel better about ourselves. Don’t get me wrong, I love where the church is going. I love it when churches create an authentic and grace-centered environment where people don’t feel condemned or judged just by walking in the doors, but I think we all need to be careful about how “authentic” we allow ourselves to become. Grace is there to help us up, but not to be used as a crutch.

Sorry, I didn’t mean to get preachy. I actually found the article very funny because it hit close to home and this very issue has been the subject of conversations I’ve had in recent months.