eliminating some of the cheese factor ( a semi-religious rant.)

on the way to work yesterday, i was listening to k-love and the cheesiest christian song came on. i mean, cheesy. the kind where at the end a chorus of creepy-sounding children start chanting "jesus, oh, jesus, oh jesus, we love you." which is fine. becuase yes, they do love him. but i just don't see the need to tack it to the end of ths already-cheesy song. this is the problem with a lot of mainstream christian music today. the "cheese factor."

and this got me thinking. about the problem with mainstream christian churches, too. or at least, mega-churches. it's the lights and the state-of-the-art sound system and programs and the stadium-sized buildings and anyway, i'm not questioning the hearts of any of the people who attend these churches. in fact, i've been one of them. but what i wonder is if that is what God truly intended us to do with our money. when he asks us to take up our cross and follow him, is he literally telling us to build huge buildings for programs and to serve its memebers. what about the community? the cities in which these churches sit. what about the poor and the needy and the people who might not come to the huge gym-sized church on a quiet tree-lined street. is it up to us to assume someone else is taking care of those people and those communities? or do we need to minimize our own "cheese factor." sure, the well-rehersed processions on easter are touching, but the homeless people under the bridge aren't being touched. i wonder if we spend too much time preaching to the choir instead of to the streets.