Let’s face it, we don’t know how to have fun. Not even a little bit. In fact, we are afraid of fun. Fun seems evil and dark and out of control. At least that is what I concluded at the end of our super-conservative wedding in Southern Macedonia that we attended yesterday. The night was highlighted by two stark contrasts, the first was at the Christian wedding where we all sat stoically and primly in our chairs and quietly talked to one another; the other is when we returned to our hotel and a wedding was in full roaring blast, and people were literally (I lie not) dancing on top of the tables.
I am not advocating table dancing at our Christian weddings, but I am concerned about a number of things related to this wedding of our close friends. It was the first “Christian” wedding ever done in this town. For that we are thrilled, and honestly the church service was excellent. Great music, great preaching, beautiful bride and groom, full church, lots of atmosphere. This service alone marked this couple’s nuptials as something very special. It also was probably the last Christian wedding in that town.
Folks I am here to tell you, the dinner reception afterwards, probably went down as the worst one ever in Macedonia. You have to understand that weddings are a huge deal here. Families will go into debt for decades to pull off a wedding that would be talked about (favorably) for years to come. It is considered a social coup. And it is one of the few social situations where people really let down their hair and have fun.
This reception was no fun. Mind you I am not a wedding connissiur, nor am I particularly fond of weddings in general, but here in the former Yugoslavia, it is one place where people have fun. And I want and think people should have fun. Most importantly in this society, is that Christians have fun. We are painted as the stupid, deaf, dumb, mentally deficient sect of the West here . . . and that we can have fun, while being the children of God, is critical.
But as we often we do, we err on the side of not taking any risks (thinking that this is no error at all) and in the process made certain than none, not even one of those pre-Christians attending the wedding last night, will be in Church today, nor interested in Christianity for the entire course of their lives. Oh yes, we are afraid to have fun. Don’t you know fun is from Satan? And here I thought Jesus made the good wine at the wedding party.
I am not advocating table dancing at our Christian weddings, but I am concerned about a number of things related to this wedding of our close friends. It was the first “Christian” wedding ever done in this town. For that we are thrilled, and honestly the church service was excellent. Great music, great preaching, beautiful bride and groom, full church, lots of atmosphere. This service alone marked this couple’s nuptials as something very special. It also was probably the last Christian wedding in that town.
Folks I am here to tell you, the dinner reception afterwards, probably went down as the worst one ever in Macedonia. You have to understand that weddings are a huge deal here. Families will go into debt for decades to pull off a wedding that would be talked about (favorably) for years to come. It is considered a social coup. And it is one of the few social situations where people really let down their hair and have fun.
This reception was no fun. Mind you I am not a wedding connissiur, nor am I particularly fond of weddings in general, but here in the former Yugoslavia, it is one place where people have fun. And I want and think people should have fun. Most importantly in this society, is that Christians have fun. We are painted as the stupid, deaf, dumb, mentally deficient sect of the West here . . . and that we can have fun, while being the children of God, is critical.
But as we often we do, we err on the side of not taking any risks (thinking that this is no error at all) and in the process made certain than none, not even one of those pre-Christians attending the wedding last night, will be in Church today, nor interested in Christianity for the entire course of their lives. Oh yes, we are afraid to have fun. Don’t you know fun is from Satan? And here I thought Jesus made the good wine at the wedding party.
4 comments:
From an individual who is always probably the loudest in the room and loves to laugh (even at inappropriate moments), bravo, bravo, bravo...my own personal feeling is that the Lord is most disappointed with my lack of true joy in my walk. And I'm happy to report that the last big party we had in our family included Christians and non, and everyone was on the dance floor loving it. We had drinkers and non, smokers and non, and it was genuinely fun. May our Christians lives not be marked by what we DO NOT do, especially risk. Excellent point.
Amen!!
Double Amen!
See, we girls know how to party :-)
Post a Comment