Blessed are the cool!

     This my response to a recent blog I read entitled "Blessed are the uncool!"
If you don't want to take the time to read it, let me sum it up for you, with this quote from it:

"I want a church that includes fussy kids, old liturgy, bad sound, weird congregants,  and…brace yourself…painfully amateur “special music” now and then."

     I couldn't disagree more.  This sounds like the church I grew up in.  There a lot of things about growing up in that uncool church that I am grateful for.  None of which are included in the previous list.  All of those things I could have done without.  [Full disclosure:  I was a frequent participator in the painfully amateur "special music"]  

     The writer goes on to attack a very "cool" church who had a volunteer "very abruptly escort" out of a church service a family of a disabled boy who was making a distraction.  The problem with this story is that we have no idea of the exact circumstances or how it was handled.  Maybe, the volunteer did the wrong thing.  I have no idea, but this cannot be evidence for how we need to make church "uncool."

     As I already stated, I grew up in a profoundly "uncool" church.  I remember attending my first Christian rock concert as a teenager.  I was absolutely blown away that "Christian" music could be that "cool."  I remember attending my first youth conference and was amazed at how "cool" everything was.  The thought that church even could be "cool" was revolutionary for me.  

     The problem I have with the first premise of this "uncool" argument is that America is filled with "uncool" churches and very few of them are growing.  I feel like the "uncool" factor can be a huge obstacle to my generation and even more so for younger generations.  

     With that said, I do agree that we shouldn't worship at the "cool" altar, to the point that our churches no longer reflect the heart of Christ.  This is where I and the "uncool" author may agree:

But more importantly, I want to be part of an un-cool church because I want to be part of a community that shares the reputation of Jesus, and like it or not, Jesus’ favorite people in the world were not cool.

     But I have this crazy notion that we can have a "cool" church that is filled with "uncool" people.  I believe that the church should bend over backwards including "uncool" people in our communities, but I don't think that means if you are completely tone deaf that we should give you a stage and a microphone.  Could it be possible that there is another/better place for that person to serve.  Most of the time I think that the "uncool" factor in churches is due to laziness or a lack of telling people the truth.  

     I believe that we should wrestle with this tension.  I believe that the gospel deserves an engaging presentation (call it "cool" if you like.)  But at the same time I believe that the church should embrace with open arms every "cool" and "uncool" person in our community.  Most importantly I feel like what people are really looking for is "GRACE."  They are looking for a place that they feel comfortable to be themselves, and what could be "cooler"  than that?