My favorite presidential quote is from George W. Bush who said, “When I was young and foolish, I was young and foolish.”
Me, too, W.
We lived in Chambers County in the village of Fairfax, now a part of Valley, Ala. In those days we had Vacation Bible School parades on the Saturday before VBS. A local organization had a costume character they freely loaned to groups--the Chattahoochee Poochie, named for the nearby Chattahoochee River. Danny Spear was a showman. He always volunteered to wear the unvented and hot costume in June or July and be in the lead car in the neighborhood parade.
One year I suggested the poochie come to church. I asked Danny to come in during the greeting time, shake hands (or paws) and let me interview him about VBS. But when he came in, the children who delighted in seeing him in the parade screamed and ran in fear to their parents. Then I discovered the poochie had a snout with no mouth, so he could only mumble into the microphone.
I silently prayed, “O, Lord, please get me out of this and I promise never again!”
But I remember an idea that worked on another occasion and in a different place.
I thought about how to make communion less routine and had the idea of the Apostle Paul directing it. Our music department did pageants all the time, so we had plenty of costumes. On that Sunday night, Paul walked out in chains with a Roman soldier behind him. He sat down at a table and began to read a letter he’d written to young Timothy about the meaning of the Lord’s Supper. The deacons and I said not a word but followed his instructions in distributing the elements. It was a very meaningful service.
I wrote a brief prologue and sent the script to our denomination’s preaching magazine at the time. They published it, so I trust other pastors found it helpful.
I think ministers struggle with how to make worship less routine and more memorable. Routine has its place, since the aforementioned Apostle Paul instructed “all things be done decently and in order” (1 Corinthians 14:40).
But we feel kinship with the pastor who prayed, “Lord, please do something today that’s not in the bulletin!”
Some churches have a worship committee; others have worship teams. These are good venues to discuss new ideas and pray about worship that honors the Lord and encourages the worshippers.
I would humbly suggest, based on my bad judgment, that cartoon characters remain in the outdoor festivals or parades and not come to church on Sunday morning.
Our First Baptist kids had bad dreams for weeks.
