The Church that Takes Your Order

I laughed hard as I watched this YouTube video:

“Drive-through Church”

It depicts the fictional First Trinity Unity Community Church of the United States, where parishioners pull up to a drive-through machine and place their order for worship. (Thanks to Church Marketing Sucks for highlighting this video).

At the First Trinity Unity Community Church, parishioners spell out in meticulous detail their orders, including such requests as:

I need a parking spot, I need it not too far, keep it out of the sun…How about two clapping songs and a small group that only asks the get-to-know-you question…Oh, and the greeters, I want them to smile– no handshakes, it’s too close, too soon.

I want some creative illustrations, I want to laugh a little bit, but not too much…And I want to feel encouraged and uplifted and affirmed this week…I don’t want to be challenged too much, just a little bit, ok, because I’m challenged enough during work.

I definitely recognize myself on a grumpy day in these requests, especially in the level of annoyance and nit-picking at every aspect of church life.

This video lampoons the trap that many of us churchgoers too easily fall into—expecting church to be 100% what we want, when we want. In any given congregation, there are people who come for a wide variety of reasons, and with a diverse range of tastes. If each of us had the church that was exactly what we wanted, when we wanted, we would be in congregations of one.

One of the biggest rewards, but also the biggest challenges, of church life, is being part of a community that works together. This means accepting the occasional sermons that bore us, because other people in the congregation are riveted by that topic. Or celebrating the music that moves us, while other congregants may be less than thrilled with those particular hymns. (And of course, dealing with many other compromises that are required in church life).

In the life cycle of one’s involvement with a congregation, there may be many points where one asks “Do I really want to stay in this congregation?” “Is this congregation my spiritual home?”

And sometimes, when the church seems to be moving in a significantly different direction from one’s own spiritual path, the answer is “no.” After careful reflection and spiritual practice, one may realize that it is time to move on. And that’s ok.

But when we do decide to make a commitment to a congregation, it should be with the understanding that membership in any healthy congregation requires compromise, patience, and dedication to the needs of the entire community. We should accept that difficult truth when we join a congregation.

In fact, we should be PROUD when we are in congregations where people work together, try new things, and are open to one another’s spiritual desires.

If we all went to drive-through church, we’d miss out on community and on discoveries that we could only have made from trying something new.