#5 Why can't we sacrifice oxen on stage?

So yesterday was the last day of VBS at our church. That typically means a big party to be attended by all the kids, parents, neighbors, pets, and random folks driving by wanting to check this whole thing out. We had inflatable slides, sno-cones, popcorn, hot dogs, balloon twisters, and me and some friends provided the facepainting. Basically, it was a carnival where you knew everyone. Pretty fun time.

Although I had my head buried most of the time trying to paint a horse on some kid's face (sorry it looked like a pitbull) I looked up every now and then and saw a familiar scene every time. Excited kids with red sno-coney mouths running up to some inflatable monstrosity and defying death while racing the other kids. And the parents? Slowly walking around, obviously exhausted as they tried chasing their kids around, and then giving up to feast on hot dogs and harass the facepainters.

So why is it that the kids were so thrilled and excited, and the parents were living in the doldrums? Is it because they chased their kids all week, loaded full of animal crackers, orange drink, and crazy VBS songs? I don't think so. Something tells me if we whipped Tim McGraw out on stage with a monster truck rally behind and a fireworks pyrotechnic show up in the sky the parents would get pretty excited. I think it's because we aimed at the kids. Every event screamed "Kids! Come quick! Cool, wild fun right here! Eat these sweets, get this balloon, jump on this slide!"

If we look at that the right way, it gives a little insight into church. What are we aiming for? We have thirty minutes of scripted worship, communion, offering, then a 30-40 minute three-point sermon complete with PowerPoint slides. So we're aiming for corporate CEOs. And they don't smile much. Or ride the inflatable slide.

In Leviticus 9 we have one of the very first worship services for the Hebrew nation. It looked just a tad different from our worship, since we don't really slaughter animals on stage and sprinkle their blood on the altar. The verses I want to focus on are 23 and 24.

23 Moses and Aaron then went into the Tent of Meeting. When they came out, they blessed the people; and the glory of the LORD appeared to all the people. 24 Fire came out from the presence of the LORD and consumed the burnt offering and the fat portions on the altar. And when all the people saw it, they shouted for joy and fell facedown.

All of the people were gathered together, the priests came out and blessed the people, and the Lord sent down fire to consume the offering. Everyone in their incredible joy buried their nose in the dirt. While I think it would be cool if we stuck our nose in the carpet midway through a song (post-VBS carpet, mind you) that's not the focus. The entire service, the whole chapter describes the ritual of the sacrifice and how the Lord was pleased, everyone was joyful, and it was a service definitely worth talking about at Applebee's over lunch.

But what was the aim of the service? All of the rituals were done at the altar not for the people, but for God. The people shouted for joy when God's fire came down and consumed the offering. The whole aim of the service was for God.

I think we could aim our services more for God. Allow the Spirit to move amongst the people, fill them with joy so they can cry out to the Lord in love. We were made to worship Him, and I don't think God is running through the church gleefully laughing at our PowerPoint animations. But I could see him enjoying an offering of worship, prayer and supplication. He probably enjoys it as much as a kid getting a pitbull painted on her face.