6.19.2008

No Extra Charge...

About a week ago Johanna, myself, and some friends went and watched the movie Kung Fu Panda. It's a pretty good flick. I even caught myself laughing out loud a couple times. Jack Black does an excellent job with the voice of Po, the Panda. And if you like animated movies, this one is probably worth your time and money.

But there is a great quote in the begining of the movie that has had me thinking over the past several days. After a fight sequence, Po, the "Kung Fu Panda" makes this statement: There is no charge for awesomeness.

It's an instant classic line that gets a lot of laughs in the movie. But the principle of it is what has my brain churning.

How many times in our churches is "awesomeness" the exception instead of the rule? I hear tons of pastors say that they want the Sunday morning worship experience to "be the best hour of your week." But so many times, we over-promise and under-deliver.

But what if the church took Kung Fu Panda as their mission, their motto, their modus operandi? What if we planned and led every worship experience with the mindset that there is no charge for awesomeness. That is, that "awesomeness" or excellence was the bar. That an incredible, life-altering experience was the norm, the standard, and the expectation.

What if we strived to make our worship gatherings the most engaging, incredible experience possible? What if awesomeness was expected as the norm and not something that comes with an "additional charge"? What if our churches took serious the obligation we have to reach the lost and awesomeness became the reality instead of the exception? Just a thought...Feel free to add your own thoughts in the comment section.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

and it only took you an hour and a half to blog this. nice. haha.

df

Terrace Crawford said...

I LOVED this movie. Great thought on the blog here. I agree... although sometimes I think we can put too much emphasis on the 'awesomeness' of Sunday and not enough 'awesomeness' throughout the week.

If people really experience Jesus during the week Sunday will be 'awesome' regardless. Don't get me wrong... I'm a BIG supporter of putting all we can into the weekend services.

Also, on a much more random (less meaningful) note: I need your email address Nic. Could you please email me?

/TC/

JMob said...

http://johnvoelzblog.blogspot.com/2008/06/twitter-church.html

Brett said...

I think a lot of it is response; worship was always a response to what God was doing or did. We love because he first loved us, the Israelites worshipped God in Exodus when they heard that he had heard their groans and was responding. Maybe making it more accessible for people to see where God is intervening in their lives, or making a service that is about letting God know about our weeks and our troubles and then in some way how God might respond to that, kind of like liturgy. Just thoughts, what do I know...