The Girl With Too Much Perfume

John 4:34

"My food," said Jesus, "is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work."

Last night I was hanging out with a buddy drinking a couple of beers at an upscale brewpub in Lancaster. A pricey place and not the scene for beers after lawn work, at least before showering. My buddy had to roll so I was awaiting another buddy who was coming. We were going to catch some of the Heat-Pacers game, which turned out to be a dud, and also catch up. LeBron rules.

In the interim between buddies, like two halves of a basketball game, an attractive girl/woman sat in the chair my first buddy had just vacated. She had long blond tresses, a chic white short dress on, and was made up like a doll. Almost model-like. I was fooling around with my Untappd app on my iPhone trying to figure out how to check-in so I was distracted. But one thing kept reminding me that she was there in the chair next to me. She had a lot of perfume on--and a perfume that I didn't find particularly lovely. It was nauseating to me in fact. She left soon enough to meet an acquaintance but the scent remained for a good minute.

This reminded me of how the Church tries to be as attractive as the world. Last week I was reading an article in the local newspaper about how area churches are trying to do outreach to the youth of the county. It kind of boiled down to creating a venue that kids would want to come to. Pizza, drinks, games, facilities. Perfume. I happen to know of a lot of the churches mentioned and know them to be sincere in their efforts. Several of the youth pastors made the point about drawing kids to Christ and the Gospel, noting that all of the accouterments alone were merely means to an end. Yet, at some point our means do become ends.

Here is what I mean. Creating parallel places for kids has been shown to be a gigantic failure in terms of keeping kids in the church and bring the unchurched kids into church. They can always find more fun elsewhere, better pizza, tastier coffee, cooler kids, and hipper music. We can slap all of the perfume of the world on and it is just going to reek.

I think it so much better to integrate in where kids already congregate, on their turf, and bring Christ in to it. Our search and rescue mentality tends to send the message to the young that Church is an alternative universe, somewhat unreal, where true life is suspended. A holding tank of sorts where hormones are held at bay. Yet, when these kids turn 21, they check out for the club and party scene, a good deal of them at least, and disappear. Putting away childish things means to them putting away Christ. How the Savior of the World is reduced to being discarded like an empty pizza box makes me wonder if all of the crap we spoon-fed these kids dulled their taste for the only real soul food that exists. Jesus.

Or, to get back to my original thought, whether the aroma of Christ has been lost in the wafting perfumes of the world.