Last week, my family went to Los Angeles for Noah's lacrosse tournament. While there, Sheila introduced us to her cousin who, in turn, took us on a behind-the-scenes tour of the television and movie studios where she works. This was the place where classics like "Gilligan's Island" and "Seinfeld" were shot, and lots of current TV shows are filmed there, too. We walked onto the set of "Entertainment Tonight" while they were filming, which was really neat for the kids, then got a behind-the-scenes look at the show "Hot in Cleveland" starring Betty White.

 When we walked onto the sound stage, we almost immediately stepped into a charming Gothic-revival church sanctuary. Stunningly beautiful, the attention to detail was amazing. It was nearly all fake, of course: The stone work, the stained glass rosettes, the chancel and altar-- all fake props.

As I wandered up to the lectern, I noticed a big Bible-- huge, really-- and assumed it was fake, too. But as I got closer, and fingered the pages, I discovered it was real. Imagine that: A real Bible in the middle of the land of make believe. "How sad that it's being used as a prop," I thought.

And then it hit me. We're in danger of doing the same thing, you and I, in our homes and churches. We have big honkin' Bibles on the shelves of our homes but our lives are mostly about us. We have big honkin' Bibles in our sanctuaries but worship is mostly about us, too.

A mentor and colleague once published a study drawn from a large, random sampling of California churches of all denominational stripes. She discovered that the more "Evangelical" the church, the less Scripture they actually read in worship. In fact, the Evangelical churches in the study spent more time on announcements than in Bible reading. The Scripture used was sparce, tended to be read only by the pastor, and then seldom referred to again.

It's as if our many words about the Bible are more important than Scripture itself.

If we worship the Bible, treat it as a talisman to be kept as a kind of exalted prop, rather than letting it point us to the person and work of Jesus Christ-- the Word made flesh-- and drinking deeply of its truth, then our lives are as fake and one-dimensional as a beautiful but empty chapel on a make-believe sound stage.

In the end, I couldn't throw any rocks at the makers of "Hot in Cleveland". I've got too much in common.

How about you?

The Lord be with you!

Pastor Chris

PS: The Navajo Nation outreach project launches this coming Friday, July 20. Do you have last-minute coats or clothes? Please email Norm, Don, or Bob.