ANYTHING GOES? OR WE'VE NEVER DONE IT THAT WAY BEFORE?

ANYTHING GOES? OR WE'VE NEVER DONE IT THAT WAY BEFORE?

Senator Barry Goldwater ran for President in 1964 with the campaign slogan “Extremism in defense of liberty is no vice, moderation in pursuit of justice is no virtue.”   The landslide victory of Lyndon Johnson may have sounded the death knell for that maxim.  However, a similar idea still exists when Christian Creativity interacts with today’s church.  The phraseology used has none of the same eloquence but the two opposite boundaries are just as firmly established.  On the extremism side sit those who are convinced that ANYTHING GOES.  The moderation side is occupied by the WE’VE NEVER DONE IT THAT WAY BEFORE people.

The reason these opponents face off so readily for battle stems from their attitude toward change.  One side believes that change is always for the best while the other side argues that change is necessarily evil.  Both are wrong.

God is unchangeable and the Word of God never changes.  But methodology has been changing ever since the days of the early church.  The Ephesians didn’t hold Vacation Bible School.  The Apostle Paul never wrote a blog post.  John didn’t make a video of his visions on the island of Patmos.

Some changes happen out of necessity.  German immigrants on my wife’s side of the family began to hold English services when new generations no longer spoke German.  But that didn’t keep one relative from objecting with the strong argument that “If German was good enough to be spoken in heaven, it was good enough to use on earth.”

Isaac Watts changed hymnody forever when he wrote a song a week for his father’s church to replace the versification of Psalms.  It would be a shame to discourage a new Watts from creating music for today’s church because WE’VE NEVER DONE IT THAT WAY BEFORE.

On the other hand Aimee Semple McPherson presaged the entertainment approach to worship way back at the beginning of the twentieth century.  Multitudes crowded her Angelus Temple to see her swing on a rope over the heads of the congregation while quoting “Curfew Must Not Ring Tonight” by Rose Thorpe.  But Aimee also staged her own kidnapping and fell into the category of ANYTHING GOES.

The fact that we are trying to serve God with creativity does not exempt us from Paul’s admonition to “let all things be done decently and in order” (I Cor. 14:40).  Neither does it permit us to ignore his warning to “do all things without murmuring and complaining” (Phil. 2:14).  ANYTHING GOES falls outside the category of decent and orderly.  WE’VE NEVER DONE IT THAT WAY BEFORE fits the definition of murmuring and complaining.

Perhaps the best advice could be taken from William Carey whose creativity changed the face of modern missions.  “Expect great things from God. Attempt great things for God.”  When we expect great things from God we avoid the danger of ANYTHING GOES.  When we attempt great things for God we shun the WE’VE NEVER DONE IT THAT WAY BEFORE pitfall.