Matt's Message 7/8 March: Time to Give Up, The Decline and Fall of the Village Church

I suppose it had to happen, I just didn't think it would happen this way. Two weeks ago we were informed that our salvation is somehow related to our sartorial sense or lack thereof, that we needed the "proper pants" to get to heaven and the "improper shirt" would likely get us a punch in the eye. The following week it was revealed that the church funded a trip seemingly only to record the taking of a baboon's life and give the pastor a chance to use a satellite phone, which followed a sort of "David Janssen as The Fugitive" itinerary through East Africa. And finally, this week comes the confession that the "experiement" isn't working: "We are only 'right' about two weeks out of the year" Matt confessed, indicating that our understanding of salvation swings like a pendulum from Total Legalist Moron to Completely Morally Unencumbered Buffoon, passing ever so briefly through "Gets It", and for all the good it does us for the other 50 weeks of the year we should be sleeping in on Sunday morning.

Ok, so whose fault is it that our salvation is taken so casually that we should as a congregation all end up hurtling headlong to hell in a handcart? Could it possibly be that sending Josh to Africa to observe the passing of a baboon and live out his "Jack Bauer Fantasy" might not lead inexorably to the salvation of the flock? Is it possible that the kind of pants I wear may have little or no bearing on a relationship with my Savior? Might it be possible that simply watching the pendulum swing isn't the best possible use of Matt's time? Is there not a certain irony revealed when contemplating a) Matt's "mailing it in" quality sermons over the last several months along with b) the image of a Warner Brothers Cartoon methaphor for hypnosis -- a swinging pendulum? Is it just possible that Buffalo may get one good year out of Terrell Owens? Is it entirely likely that I have tried to get too much milage out of a few "out of context" remarks and that I should go back to actually listening to the sermons and thus save my soul?

These and many other questions deserve answers. Ok, well maybe they don't. But let's get those new elders in there as fast as we can and try and corral this Wild West Show / Barnum and Baily Circus called the Village Church Staff and herd them back into their cages. Afterall, I don't remember any of the elder candidates talking about pendulums or pants or baboons. Maybe some measure of sanity still exists in Highland Village. Though I seriously doubt it. To wit: I am a covenant member.