Relevant Idols

Last updated on: January 3, 2013 at 11:41 am by Ragan Sutterfield

Relevant Idols 2013-01-03T11:41:08-07:00 Ragan Sutterfield

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

The church is meant to be an icon–a picture of what divine love looks like that sparks a vision beyond itself. The opposite of an icon is an idol. An idol takes an experience of divine love and tries to codify it, make it concrete and turn it into solid, trustworthy, but lifeless, stone.

There’s a lot of talk in Christian circles about the decline of church in America. The number of people in the pews are declining and the outlook for many denominations is not good. In response many ask, how do we make church more relevant? We think that by updating the language of our prayer books, adding in contemporary music, or adding in familiar communication forms like video we will somehow change the course of our decline. We think that we need more programs and events to draw people in. But all too often these efforts at relevance simply result in more fashionable idols rather than creating icons of the Word Made Flesh.

We should not seek to be relevant, we should seek only to be better icons. Sometimes that may mean adopting new conventions and aesthetics, new ways to move people to look toward God. But relevance should never be the goal–relevance is simply a byproduct of showing what God’s love looks like here and now.

Don’t worry about being relevant; focus on being an image of God in the world. That image is relevant, from the beginning to the end.

Previous Post

January 1, 2013

Knowing Names

Next Post

January 7, 2013 Stories of Heroic Nonviolence (or No Hero with a Gun)

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Confession Ecclesiology Ecology Fast Feast/Celebration Humility Lament Lectio Lectionary Reflection Meditation Memorization Nonviolence Praise/Thanksgiving Prayer Recollection Reconciliation Review Sabbath Sermons Service Simplicity Solitude Soul WOD Study Submission Uncategorized Vision Works of Mercy Worship

Select a Month June 2015 February 2015 November 2014 September 2014 May 2014 January 2014 August 2013 July 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

Which Gospel is written by a doctor?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Matthew Luke John Mark