They’re smart like that. Especially these days when they’re bombarded from every which way with opportunities to be entertained. We live in a media-soaked culture, and people may fall for it more often than they ought, but deep down they’re no fools.
It’s why the witty sarcasm of the grunge-era anthem still resonates today:
With the lights out, it’s less dangerous
Here we are now, entertain us
Kurt Cobain, “Smells Like Teen Spirit”
So when Christian worship comes across as entertainment, it’s taken as non-reality. When it’s presented more like a show than a relational encounter, it feels like we’re being sold something. When it comes across so slick and polished, it loses the authenticity that people are really hungry for. When it serves to be a multi-sensory experience for the crowd more than an expression of love and adoration to God, we lose the heart of what it means to be worshipers.
The more YouTubeable and Instagramable our worship becomes, the more it becomes just one more entertaining option among many. And we shouldn’t be too surprised when people don’t come back for more.
Let entertainment be entertainment.
Let worship be worship.
