It seems like the modern church is ever in the process of aping the world. Rather than being the best at everything–music, architecture, art, science, politics, philosophy, etc.–as Christians once were, modern believers are content with being just good enough to get by (or to get a crowd or sell a few CDs or DVDs to other believers or whatever.)
This aping of the world has reached the point of being really embarrassing. From music that is a not-hardly-as-good version of modern pop music to worship services like rock concerts MC’ed by what appears to be MTV-reject VJs, the 21st century church is falling all over itself to be relevant, which often ends up as a pathetic and belated copy of the world. The following quote, although specifically related to political issues, is descriptive of the church on any number of issues.
In light of the recently falsified experiments with socialism, we ought to hear the caveat from Andrew Greeley, who warned that the church must be most careful not to render itself dated by being no more than an echo of “the fashionable liberalism of five years ago, whenever five years ago was. They will arrive on the scene, as always, a little breathless and a little late.” (David W. Hall, Savior or Servant? Putting Government in Its Place
, 8 (quoting Andrew M. Greeley, “A ‘Radical’ Dissent” in Challenge and Response: Critiques of the Catholic Bishops’ Draft Letter on the U.S. Economy (Washington, DC: Ethics and Public Policy Center, 1985), 43)).
That’s about right. A perfect description of the modern church: five years late and a little breathless.