[Tuesday's Devotional] - Consumer Culture

One of the ways the internet has transformed our shopping experience is the useful and invaluable tool of checking other peoples' "feedback" scoring or ratings.  If I want to book a hotel, buy a book or a DVD, or almost any transaction you can think of, there will often be a way in which I can check what other people have said about their "consumer experience".  

Personally, I have found tripadvisor a very useful tool in booking a holiday or choosing a restaurant or a hotel – but I have also learned to recognise the signs of grumpy old men and women (some not so old!).  We live in a consumerist society and our expectations continue to rise based on a diet of TV programmes like Hotel Inspector and others which seek to point out the failings of any establishment they visit – only the worst being worthy of airing on prime time TV.

One of my big fears is that the church is seen as a consumer experience.  I don't know of a website where you can score your local church for cleanliness, friendliness, worship quality and atmosphere – but I do sense that people are making these judgements in their heads as they grumble about the failings of this or that person, or the badly organised group they have become a part of.

Have we forgotten that we are called to follow Jesus and to serve, not to be served?  Do we give as often as we take or are we always in debt as a result of our draining the resources of our church without "topping them up" when they are running low?

For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many. Mark 10:45 [NIV]

Teach us, good Lord, to serve you as you deserve, to give and not to count the cost, to fight and not to heed the wounds, to toil and not to seek for rest, to labour and not to ask for any reward, save that of knowing that we do your will.  Amen.

Dave MacLellan