Lawn Sprinklers for Jesus

“My wife and I were recently on vacation, and being strangers in a strange land, we sought out a place to worship while there. We picked a place that, judging by the name, seemed safe enough. But the service started out with a thumping worship band playing some up-beat pep rally songs. One of these songs had something to do with God’s love being ‘all around, all around.’ You would think I could remember all the words to it because they sang them about as many times as the Beatles sang that nah-nah-nah part in Hey, Jude. But this was not enough. One of the song leaders taught everybody how to imitate a lawn sprinkler, spinning in place, one arm straight out and the other hand behind the head. So here we were, sitting in the back row of a strange church, watching a room full of adults spinning around as though they were lawn sprinklers. One of the song leaders, flushed with enthusiasm, cried out, ‘Who says church isn’t fun!’ These dear misguided people thought they were honoring God through what they were doing, even thought what they were actually doing was teetering on the edge of blasphemy. What does a biblical Christian do when confronted with something like this? The scriptural answer is plain — make fun of it” (A Serrated Edge, pp. 70-71).