With a couple hotties in tow...

This was a timely post for those of us going home to churches that put on huge Christmas productions. Last night, a relative was relating a pageant she attended where half the time was spent singing and dancing to "White Christmas", "Winter Wonderland", et al. People come in droves and tens of thousands of dollars are spent on these "theatrical productions".

This begs the question, though, what is Good Shepherd Band Annual Christmas Sing-a-Long? We hire a sound crew, we decorate with ornaments and lights, we work for months to put on what is indeed a major musical production. Are we, too, scratching the modern itch for a "colorful setting and fireworks"?

A couple of my own answers:

1) Churches all over are putting on "theatrical productions" every Sunday morning, and if they stopped, their congregations would shrink. Tozer may not be opposed to a once-or-twice a year special production aimed at getting more of the community through the doors.

2) With many of these Christmas productions, people walk away saying, "I don't know where the gospel was in all of that, but boy was that a neat set!" With the GSB Sing-a-Long, the gospel is preached, not implicitly or non-verbally, but preached throughout the evening. It calls the congregation to repentance from particular sins. No doubt some walk away saying, "The music was great, but wasn't it infuriating what the leader said about feminism?"

In the case of the Christmas Sing-a-Long, the hope is that if you take away the music, lights, and decorations, the congregation is still riveted by the truth and offense of the gospel message that's presented. The production's purpose is to adorn the gospel message. What we don't want is a production where you take away the music, lights, and decorations, and you're left with nothing of value.