Creekside Church Sermon of September 15 , 2002 "We're Not in Kansas Anymore" Romans 12:1-2 1 Samuel 7:3	Rev. David Bibbee
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Memorable movies have memorable quotes. Some of these quotes peel themselves off the big screen and surface in our vocabulary. Sometimes circumstances will bring a quote to the surface that is descriptive of the situation in which we find ourselves. Have you ever caught yourself using well-known movies lines? Let's see if you can connect the name of the actor, character, or movie from which these quotes come.; "Here's looking at you, kid." Humphry Bogart in CASABLANCA. "The Force be with you." Obi-Wan Kenobi in STAR WARS. "Go ahead, make my day." Clint Eastwood in DIRTY HARRY. "I'll be back!" Arnold Schwarzenegger in the TERMINATOR.

My sermon title is from another famous film. In the WIZARD OF OZ Dorothy is sucked into a tornado and carried to a strange, unfamiliar place. Regaining consciousness, Dorothy says to her dog, "Toto, I don't think we're in Kansas anymore." "We're not in Kansas" expresses what it is like when we find ourselves in a foreign situation. It comes to mind when we are in a place devoid of familiar landmarks; a place in which we can't get our bearings or find a recognizable face. Not to be in Kansas is finding ourselves in a place, time, or circumstance in which we are complete strangers.

"We're not in Kansas anymore," is a fitting statement because the world today is drastically different from the world as it was 40 years ago. We live, work, and worship in a culture that either dismisses Christianity, or despises the existence of the church and the truths it professes. This is nothing new. It is the way it has been ever since the church began. But it is especially so in times when the gospel of the church collides with the values of the culture which surrounds it.

This culture in which we live poses a threat to Christ's church. It's not an easy to detect threat. If it were, we could fight it head on. It uses stealth, and has many disguises. It subtly creeps into the crevices of our thoughts and dilutes the church's witness from within.

Our two texts for today address this problem. In the passage from I Samuel, Saul is about to become Israel's first king. It was a decision which Samuel was not comfortable with, but Samuel uses the moment to preach to the people about being steadfast in their devotion to God… an area in which Israel did not have a good record. It was the problem that Moses had to handle. While God dictated the ten commandments to Moses, down below, the people God had miraculously delivered from Egypt had taken religious matters into their own hands. They grew impatient waiting for Moses and decided it would be better to have a more accessible, tangible kind of god, a less demanding Deity… so they pooled their jewelry, melted it down, and "Presto!" out came a golden calf around which the people partied, pranced, and danced.

Samuel saw "déjà-vu all over again." Israel had defeated the Canaanites and now possessed the promised land. But they didn't know what to do with it. The Hebrews were nomads and sheepherders, not farmers. They didn't know a disc from a plow. They were dependent upon the Canaanites to teach them. The Canaanites showed them how to plant, cultivate and harvest, but the Canaanites also were very religious. They believed worship was just as important in the process as seed and soil, and what better god to worship than Ashtoreth, the goddess of fertility and love. Put fertility and love together and worship becomes a very… uhmmm… sensual experience.

The Hebrews were not forced to participate. They just figured it was a part of agriculture. Before long, the worship of God was mingled with the worship of Ashtoreth. Kiss the "having no other gods" commandment goodbye. God was no longer the exclusive object of worship. Caniaanite Farming 101 had diluted Israel's devotion and was in danger of turning God's chosen into folks indistinguishable from the culture around them. This is why Samuel pleaded for an about-face. "Dump the foreign gods, and turn you hearts to the Lord your God."

This obscure passage tells us something about our situation. We don't have golden holy cows or love goddess statues in our churches, but we don't have to look far for signs that the culture we live in has found it's way into the thought and practice of the church. How?

Consider all the power of the media. Recently, a researcher completed a study of the impact of television on society. He collected 2,400 hours of video containing prime time and cable shows-talk shows, comedies, sports, movies, and the advertising woven throughout. He wanted to distill the overall message in a few statements. Instead he ended up with one statement. The overall message of TV, he said, is this…"You are the most important thing in the world." Quite a contrast to Jesus who told us to put pride aside along with our preoccupation with ourselves.

Studies have shown TV's impact on children. Researchers were startled to find that children who watched hours of TV everyday had smaller brains than those of children who watched little in comparison. Cognitive and creative abilities were diminished in children with prolonged exposure to TV. I thought what would have happened if I had taken a group of teenagers on my Canadian wilderness trip. If a tiny TV was in the cabin and the kids were given the choice between time in the wonder of God's creation, or TV, I think I know where most of them would be found.

TV is not benign. How will we know what matters most if we sit at the set an American average of 28 hours a week and spend one hour in worship? Which will have the greater influence on our character? The media has a powerful impact. If you think it's benign, think about this chilling statement by an MTV executive who said, " We don't shoot for fourteen year-olds. We own them."

We are not in Kansas anymore. We do not live in a Christian culture. Society is preoccupied with violence and distorted sexuality. Responsibility for others and Jesus' counsel to consider the needs of others before our own has been replaced by the elevation of "my rights, my pursuits, and my desires."

We are now in the "information age." The worldwide web provides us with staggering amounts of information. We have knowledge a mile wide and wisdom one inch deep. We have a constant stream of information with no idea how to use it. We are overwhelmed with all sorts of choices and are aware of all the problems and sufferings of the world. As a result, we just shut down. We grow numb to it all and say, "I can't do a thing about it."

There are sobering parallels between our culture in 2002 and the Roman Empire before its' fall. Then as now, pleasure, entertainment, and excess were the principle pursuits of life. The Romans flocked to the arena to watch the gladiators. We flock to the arenas to watch professional wrestling and x-treme fighting. Then as now, there is great indifference to the sufferings of the world. Then as now, society was permeated with violence, moral decay, and trust was in military might.

By now you're probably wondering, "What does all this have to do with worship?" A lot. The church is being torn apart by worship war. Sides are drawn into "traditional" and "contemporary" camps. The traditional army defends what has been. Tradition is a necessary thing, but it gets turned into "traditionalism" and the distinction between them couldn't be greater. I heard someone describe the difference this way. "Tradition is the living faith of the dead. Traditionalism is the dead faith of the living."

The contemporary army points to the church's drastic loss of young generations. In an attempt to stop the bleeding, and become attractive, organs are replaced by guitars and drums. Old hymns are set aside for high energy praise music. In a frantic attempt to attract young blood, churches disguise themselves to not look like churches. Sanctuaries are turned into amphitheaters. Pastors sound like TV talk show hosts. There are no turn-offs like offering plates and crosses. No Bible stories that might be offensive. Discipleship is given in easy-to-swallow, digestible capsules which gives worshippers the impression that Christianity is about having a happy, having a hassle-free life.

Those into tradition worship because they're supposed to. Those into doing it a new way can end up treating worship as entertainment. Both sides are inadequate.

William Willimon tells of being in Bremerhaven, Germany speaking to military chaplains. They met at what had been a German military base during World War II. In the chapel behind the altar was a large beautiful fresco done by a German artist during the war. On the right was a German soldier with bandaged wounds, walking on crutches and assisted by two nurses. On the left were two Rubenesque, buxom Rhine maidens with an ancient warrior giving a welcoming gesture. Old warriors welcoming new ones. Picture it hanging over a Christian altar. Pagan and Christian symbols side by side.

During the war, the bodies of German soldiers were laid on the altar for a brief funeral. Then, large doors behind the altar opened to a crematorium attached to the chapel. It was a quick trip from the altar to the ovens. During the wars' darkest days there were up to sixty funerals a day. Willimon saw an object lesson. " There's a high price to be paid for mixing pagan idols with Christian faith."

Paul said, "Do not be conformed to the world." When we conform, we fight. Christians declare war on each other over worship styles. But worship is no reason to fight. Our fight is with the culture that has gotten into our heads and makes us think worship is a matter of musical taste, preference, what we like or don't like. But this is irrelevant.

The way things are decided in the world has no place in decisions about worship. We are in the world, not of it. This is the world we were born into. We had no say in it. We're in a world marked by violence, confusion, and division. But we belong to another marked by peace, understanding, and reconciliation.

The Prince of Darkness loves it when Christians feud over things which are made to draw us close to God and in turn, one another. It's time to put away worshiping the idols of taste, personal preference, likes and dislikes, and insisting "rights" to get what "we" want in worship.

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