Easter Best?

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Ahhh ... Easter Sunday. The day when little girls get the frilliest spring dress they'll get all year, complete with a matching handbag and white patent leather shoes. And little boys? They'll be in their khakis, with a belt, their button down collared shirt scratching at their neck, and wearing the only pair of shoes their mom could could find without rubber soles.

That's what church is about, right? Getting all gussied up. Putting your best foot forward. Dressing the part. Let's not forget showing up for the Easter sunrise service insuring everyone you know sees you there! Yeah ... Easter sunrise service attendance earns church bonus points!

Just don't catch the scrutiny of the Easter Sunday church service fashion police. Don't get me wrong, it's not like the church fashion police aren't always on the prowl, but there seems to be some unspoken church rule that says it's OK to visibly show your disapproval on one of the holiest of Christian holidays.

From one blog I read ...

"Now I am not criticizing anyone, but here's a few religious beefs I have on my mind: I was raised that anytime you were in God's house, you dressed up. Slacks, button down shirts, ties and a jacket for men and a modest dress and nice shoes for women. So, I don't understand how people can show up in sweat pants for church. I also don't understand those "come as you are churches". If I go to someone's house, I take off my shoes, if I go to God's house, I wear respectable clothes."

**NOTE** This blogger did tell me, via email, that what she was trying to convey is that church dress should be "the best of what you have. Most of the time sweat pants is not the best of what you have."

From another blog in my reader ...

"Then there's that whore mother of three, perched suggestively in the pew to the right, who, though her desire to provide for her children is admirable, apparently forgot to change after her shift at "Clive's House of Cleavage." Let's just say her hard boiled eggs were in some serious need of being hidden."

In all fairness, it was difficult to tell if this blog post was written as satire (not the normal voice of this particular blogger) or if it was more passive-aggressive, but I'm leaning towards the latter.

I am fortunate that I attend one of those "come as you are" churches. That doesn't mean those who attend lack respect for the Church - or for God. I've seen many young men (my own son included) walk into the church atrium with a ball cap on, but once they walk through the sanctuary doors, those hats quickly come off. Young children sit quietly in their seats, comfortable in their fleece or jammies. Seldom does anyone walk into worship late.

And you know what? I'm thinking God doesn't care much what anyone is wearing or how much they spent to look nice on Sunday. In fact, I'd be willing to bet that He doesn't even care if we've brushed our teeth (although I'm sure there has been more than one Christian parent who has claimed otherwise). Nope! I'm thinking God is far more concerned with my heart than he is with my Donna Karan.

Wouldn't it be a better place if we were all a little more that way?

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Wow this is very Innapropriate

I was just going to add this story to an addition of "Hitting the High Notes" but after giving it a re-read I figured it deserved an entire post of its own. Ok so I was reading this article about a billboard in New Zealand showing Mary and Joseph in bed together. The billboard is trying to draw attention to "alternate theories of Jesus' birth" by showing the apparently no longer Virgin Mary in bed with Joeseph during a post coital moment. Mary is looking upwards and Joeseph looking forlorn as if he wasn't able to perform adequately and uses the following caption. "Poor Joseph. God was a hard act to follow." As if God actually had intercourse with Mary and was a good lover and Joseph couldn't measure up.


Oh wow, how inappropriate is this? I can understand that there are alternate theories to how Jesus was conceived and how his life, death, and resurrection are portrayed in the Bible and throughout Christianity but throwing this in the face of believers in the form of a billboard is just wrong. In my opinion it's not being used "to challenge stereotypes about the way that Jesus was conceived and get people talking about the Christmas story." as vicar, Archdeacon Glynn Cardy of St. Matthews Anglican Church claims. It's being used for it's shock value and it's ability to draw anger from believers. I am a Christian who considers myself pretty open and accepting of other religious views but this one goes too far for even me to tolerate so I had to post it here. Maybe I can use it to start a discussion.

So I would love to hear what you guys think? Is this billboard just a way to get a discussion going? It is just for shock value? Is it blasphemous? What do you think? Please keep it civil though folks...

-Doc

News Shocker .. Britney Spears Lip Syncs!

In one of the most shocking news stories of the weekend it has been confirmed that the Princess of Pop Britney Spears does in fact lip sync and does not perform live in her "concerts"
Now this story was not uncovered by TMZ or Perez Hilton. No snooping paparazzi or $800/hr lawyer brought this revelation to us. Instead it was the Australian government who brought this travesty to light. It seems they have an issue with Spears selling "concert" tickets that don't come with a disclaimer that says she isn't actually singing. Imagine that concert tickets with a disclaimer that it's not really a concert... maybe it's just a performance of some sort. Judging from the picture above maybe there oughtta be some sort of disclaimer on those tickets. YIKES !

(who on earth would pay up to $1300 to see Brit Brit anyway No matter what she was doing ?)

Doc