really? ham?

I just came across this picture over at Seth Godin's blog. It got me thinking... I'm going to give someone the benefit of the doubt and assume the person who made this blunder in regards to Jewish kosher dietary laws meant well. They probably work in the deli section of their store and felt they were be kindly inclusive of their Jewish patrons by recognizing their traditional eight day festival. Good intentions aside, they probably also alienated at least a few folks by not really understanding the people that they're seeking to serve.

I can't help but see a correlation back to the Christian life and to the way that we "do church".

• There are certainly times when we make a small efforts to do like Paul and be all things to some group of people for the sake of loving them and seeing them come to embrace the all-satisfying joy of knowing Jesus as their Savior, but in reality we totally miss the boat. My guess is it's in part because we still care more about us than about them. Think about it, if that guy in the deli truly cared about the Jewish community in his town, and actually had real relationship with even one Jewish person, he or she would have been less likely to cause such a faux pas. The same applies to us, if we are really going to reach out to the communities that we live in, we must get in the mix and rub shoulders with the people we want to see saved.
  

• As for the second area is how we "do church"... I'm totally on board with the concept that our worship services are not to be man-centered, but rather God-centered. Therefore, in a sense it would be crazy to structure services for the sake of people who do not worship God. We should make sure that our Sunday mornings have their foundation on the rock of Christ and their roots in the deep soil of Scripture. At the same time though, the way that we communicate ideas, the way we our music sounds, the way our aesthetics are structured, and so on all relate to culture whether we like it or not. I heard our youth pastor say something great the other day. He said that part of what it is to love someone is to love what they love, and God loves missions. If God loves bringing people into relationship with Himself, then we should love to be a part of that. Our worship services should certainly be rooted in our Bibles rather than our world's culture, but we should also have a realistic understanding of the culture around us so that we can authentically engage with it and communicate to it in ways that make sense to that culture. We shouldn't ignore it, but we shouldn't engage it haphazardly either and risk being disqualified as irrelevant in our attempt to deliver so great a message as the Gospel. Granted, we assured that there are many who won't like our message because it reveals their sin and need of a Savior, but let's make sure that we aren't getting in the way.

Jesus wrapped Himself in flesh to save us. Divinity came down covered in humanity. What are you willing to get covered with for the sake of Christ's lost sheep?