Dim Bulbs, Walking Dead, and the Word Made Flesh

In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men. (John 1:4, NASB)

I have a confession. Even though I am a pastor and I love Jesus, I like the show The Walking Dead. I know, I know... guts, gore, and some cussing. How could a Christian find anything redeeming about a show like that -- especially a pastor, for crying out loud! Even my wife doubts my salvation for watching it.

It's hard to put a finger on. I don't "enjoy" it the way some people enjoy a TV show. It's not funny, it's not heartwarming, it's not escapist entertainment by anyone's definition. But there is something about it that is compelling. There is something in it that smacks of real life. Not dark, edgy, gritty, zombie-apocalypse reality. I mean real life, right now, where we all live. Underneath all that is a truth struggling to be seen and heard and recognized... and embraced. 

There was one scene early on in season 2 that stands out as particularly compelling. The little band of survivors are on the move in rural Georgia, desperately trying to survive against all odds, clinging to some semblance of hope and humanity. Exhausted and despondent, they stumble across a small church in the country. They exchange silent glances, a glimmer of hope for safety and sanctuary passes between them. They enter the church.  What they find there is forever stamped in my mind.
Sitting in the pews, silently facing the front of the church are a meager handful of zombies. Living dead. Going through the motions of a life they no longer possess. Empty shells, devoid of anything that made them human.  An empty pulpit and a replica of Christ hanging on the cross stare silently back at them, as if to say, "There is no hope here, either. Christianity holds no answers. Nothing here can save you or help you or change you."

I remember seeing that and thinking half-sarcastically, "I've been to that church before!" It would be funnier if it were not such a sad and sobering truth. (I am not speaking about my home church here, just some churches I have been to in the past.) Many have come to churches hope and healing and... life! Only to find it filled with the walking dead -- members who long ago gave up any hope that the gospel can make any real difference in the world. So they come. And sit. And stare. And go lifelessly through the motions of church without ever connecting with the only One who can give them life. And we as leaders have allowed this to happen. Somehow we have failed on a massive scale in this country to connect people to their source of life.

God said it this way through the prophet Jeremiah:

"An appalling and horrible thing

Has happened in the land:

The prophets prophesy falsely,

And the priests rule on their own authority;

And My people love it so!

But what will you do at the end of it?" (Jeremiah 5:30-31, NASB)

As Christmas draws nearer, my heart is drawn to one of the greatest passages about the incarnation of a Savior in all of scripture: John 1. The Word was God. The Word became flesh and dwelt among us. In Him was Light, and that Light was the life of men! I read that this morning and immediately thought of the lamp on my desk at work. It doesn't work anymore because the bulb burned out and I haven't replaced it yet. The dead bulb is sitting on my desk.

When the scripture says "In Him was light, and this light was the life of men," it's like that dead bulb. It was created to give light. It contains the filament and the wiring, the potential for light. But it takes being connected to electricity. It needs a power source to realize that potential it was created for. Unless it is connected it will sit, unlit and unused, never knowing why it's there or what its purpose is.

I imagine myself as a light bulb trying to figure out why I am here. I can tell I was created for something. The stuff inside me is there for a reason and I have an unmet longing to be what I was designed to be. I would try my best to figure it out. But I would probably end up missing the point altogether and spend my life trying to be a paperweight or a door stop or decoration somewhere, unlit, unloved, and unfulfilled. And because I am fragile and designed for a very specific purpose, trying to live life on my own would end with me broken on the floor somewhere, feeling fit only for the trash can.

But I heard a rumor somewhere that there was a place I could go and they would tell me who I am supposed to be and how life is supposed to work. More than that, that they would connect me to a power source and I would actually light up! I would surge with electricity and be absolutely brilliant. And that the light I could cast would dispel darkness and make vision possible and illuminate the world around me so people could see the truth about where they were and what was gong on.

That's what people come to church for, if they come at all. And our job as the church is to connect dim bulbs to their source of power so they can be what they were made to be, for the glory of God and the good of the whole world. Our job is to connect people to Jesus. Because in Him is the light, and this life is the light of men.

Jeremiah was saying that there are reasons so many can come into churches and fail to connect with Christ:

• The prophets prophecy falsely. The ones who stand to proclaim "Thus says the Lord" say things that the Bible does not say. They either lie by not telling us what God's Word really says, or they lie by telling us it says something it does not say. Either way, we will never connect with Jesus if we do not know His heart. And we will never know His heart if the ones He has entrusted to speak for Him are liars. Like the empty pulpit fro the aforementioned scene, there is too often no one there to open the Word and simply tell people what God said.
• The priests rule in their own authority. Rather than obeying God and submitting to the authority of His Word, many pastors and church leaders run the church according to their best thinking, their market research, their strategies and focus groups and consultants. They gather together in conferences, they read each others blogs, and buy each others books, but when it comes to leading the church they spend more time following each others' tweets than on their face before God. They rely on their own wisdom and cleverness, or worse, the wisdom and cleverness of someone else, and make decisions without any prayer other than, "Bless what I have already decided to do without really asking You, Lord."
• My people love it so. This is the saddest part. We like it this way. We don't really want God showing up to church, revealing His glory, making His demands on our time and money. We want a church that pushes all our buttons, scratches all our itches, offers every program under the sun for every demographic in our community. It's a consumer mind set. we pick a church like we pick a car or TV or a smart phone. Does it do what I want? Does it have all my favorite apps? Will it give me everything I want but cost me as little as possible? I fear that the modern North American church model has more to do with the Great American Dream than the Great Commission. And even less with the Great Commandment.

"But what will be the end of it?" asks God. How will this play out? A handful of zombies gathered to stare at an empty pulpit and an image of Jesus who has been defeated by a cross. Walking Dead.

O God, stir our hearts! Wake us up! revive your church, Jesus! Help us to sync our hearts with Yours and to make it our passion to connect people to Your Light, the life of all people everywhere. Forgive us for making church a place of death and despair, when you mean it to be a place of life and hope. Cause Your Bride to be beautiful again.  In the precious, powerful, light-bringing, life-giving name of Jesus, I cry out to you! Amen.