What the sinking of the Vasa can teach the American church.

King Gustav II Adolf reigned over Sweden and was one to the great military minds in European History.  Part of his strategy was to be the dominant sea power in the Baltic Sea.  Control of the Baltic would mean a vast sphere of influence for Sweden.  To this end Gustav II Adolf commissioned the construction of one of the greatest warships of that day, the Vasa.

The Vasa was to be built of the timber of 1,000 oak trees.  Her mast would be over 150 feet tall, with 64 cannons, and hundreds of painted and gilded sculptures.  The Vasa would be the most powerful, most beautiful ship on the high seas.  During the construction Gustav II Adolf order the addition of a second gun deck, just to add firepower.  This ship was a marvel to behold.  Her very presence imposed the will and the national interest of Sweden on all she encountered.

On August 10, 1628, the Vasa set off on her maiden voyage to assume her rightful place as the flagship of the fleet.  Within 30 minutes of the beginning of her voyage she sank within full view of the population of Stockholm.  The Vasa sank because she was top heavy and she was top heavy because her designers put everything into the ship, while forgetting the single most important thing a ship is supposed to do, float. 

This year we have seen a record number of churches closing on the Lord’s Day because it is Christmas.  This has created uproar in some places.  Uproars can sometimes be good if they force us to think through things and answer important questions about our faith.  While this is a wide-ranging debate, I want us to consider one of the factors a number of churches sited as the reason for closing on Christmas Sunday and a couple of its implications.

 

Many churches reported that it would be difficult or impossible to put on a Sunday service with so many families being out for Christmas Sunday.  One church reported that it would be unfair to ask volunteers and staff to work at the Christmas Eve service and then come back for Sunday service as well.  One pastor reported that it requires 145 people to put on a service.

While the American church has the highest level of programing and professional production in the history of Christianity, it is also true as never before the church is feeding the culture of ‘Me-ism”.  We have developed programs and presentations that are so professional that they rival secular business presentations.  We have out standing video productions, we have perfectly comfortable seating, and we have musicians that might make it in the recording business.  Those on stage are beautiful/handsome and just the right age (some churches will move people off the stage when the reach a given age).  We have become very good at meeting the needs, wants, and desires of this “me-focused” culture.  We are so in tune with making “me-ists” happy that if worship is on an inconvenient day we will cancel services to accommodate the masses.

While I understand, appreciate and in some cases can support being sensitive to culture, the church has become like the Vasa.  We are top heavy with a lot of really impressive looking stuff, but we are going to sink unless we return to the most important factor.

The church has forgotten the single most important thing, to bring glory to God.   Maybe we need to rewrite the old Christmas hymn, “I heard the bells on Christmas day” unless it is Sunday in which case everyone will be home opening presents and having family time.