CYBERCOLUMN by Jeanie Miley: TV ‘church’ & real church_90604

Posted: 8/27/04

CYBERCOLUMN:
TV 'church' & real church

By Jeanie Miley

I’m not much for flipping through channels, but the other night, on my way to my favorite program, I braked to see a current “star” of televangelism.

The program couldn’t have been better choreographed. The sets were striking. The music was upbeat and lively, and the crowd was well-behaved. The preacher was perfectly prepared, and he delivered his message with just the right amount of everything.

“He’s my pastor,” I’ve had people tell me about him, as well as others who have been on the networks for years.

“That’s my church,” people tell me, referring to the “church” they watch on television. And then they describe how good it is to sit in the comfort of their own homes, unbothered by church politics. “I can turn it off when I want to!” they say, winking and chuckling.

The wonders of television ministries do, indeed, serve a purpose. Not for a moment would I take away the impact of people whose lives have been changed by a television ministry. For those who cannot get up and about for a variety of reasons, the inspiration and challenge of television ministries is invaluable.

For those of us who are able to be up and about, however, glossed-up, shiny and showy television “church” hardly resembles the description of the Body of Christ in my Bible.

The truth is that there isn’t a pastor or preacher alive who can, in the glare of real life, measure up to the glamour of a media star that you can turn off and on at your own leisure. Fallible men and women, flawed and finite, can’t cut it when compared to a “television ready” image on the screen. Media stars aren’t usually visible to most of us out in the regular routine of everyday life, paying their bills, meeting their deadlines, arguing with their families, worrying over car repairs, visiting the hospitals and preparing their sermons.

People with whom you rub elbows, make decisions and meet budgets often don’t look as good as those television folks, sitting in the congregations of the television churches. Television church-goers seem to be so well-behaved that it is hard to imagine getting into a conflict with any of them over the color of the carpet in the new sanctuary. What’s more, those people in the pews of television churches seem to have already worked it out about worship style and music choices.

It’s true that I don’t have to get involved with the people at television church in the same ways that I have to with my own community of faith. I won’t have to take any casseroles when they get sick, and they won’t bother me when I want to skip church. The glittering images on the tube won’t ask me to listen when they are hurting, and I won’t have to worry about being asked to sing in the choir or teach the children as long as I sit back in my easy chair and flip channels. Why, I can even “go to” two churches at once, via the wonders of television!

About the time I was watching the end of the television service, which included an appeal for donations, my phone rang, and the voice on the other end of the phone asked to speak to his pastor.

I handed the phone to my husband and then, as I watched him get up and go out into the night to meet a family at the funeral home, I gave thanks for my real life, imperfect, messy, demanding, loving family of faith known as church.

Jeanie Miley is an author and columnist and a retreat and workshop leader. She is married to Martus Miley, pastor of River Oaks Baptist Church in Houston, and they have three adult daughters. Got feedback? Write her at Writer2530@aol.com.