Mission in Action

If you haven’t seen the video of Susan Boyle who wowed the judges and audience at Britain’s Got Talent as much by her apparent “ugliness” as by her singing then you’ve been living under a rock.  Go here immediately and watch it along with the 16 or so million who have done so already before rejoining us.  When a plain frumpy 47 year old spinster who, in her own words “has never been kissed” sang like a nightingale the judges were astonished, doubly astonished in fact.  First by the sound coming out of her mouth, and second by the fact that a person who was so obviously not beautiful was so talented.  The Guardian columnist, Tanya Gold, got it right when she said “it wasn’t singer Susan Boyle was was ugly on Britain’s Got Talent so much as our reaction to her.” 

Gold picks up the fact that our culture is so intoxicated with outward beauty that it cannot fathom that someone who has a mon0brow, a few too many pounds, bad hair and who looks frumpy could actually be better at something than a good looking person.  She especially pointed out that women get away with nothing in the talent and beauty continuum, and she compared the judges comments to Susan to those they made to Paul Potts – the other “munter” who took the singing world by storm in the same competition.

Which got me thinking.  How about I trawl through some church websites to demonstrate that when it comes to beauty we are on the same track as St Peter when he says of Christian wives:

³Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as braided hair and the wearing of gold jewelry and fine clothes. ⁴Instead, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God’s sight.

So how are some of the more self-consciously culturally connected churches doing in the inner beauty vs outward adornment stakes?  Is image, personal image and profile projection all that matters these days?  What do the front pages of the more successful churches around the Western world indicate what the judges on the up and coming  Christian’s Got Talent  (all rights reserved) TV show might say to a Susan Boyle?  I think the results speak for themselves.

(Nice to know that McGyver is doing a sideline in church pastoring these days – Ed. “And all I need to fix this thing is a roll of gaffer tape and a packet of Chinese imported crispy noodles” 

The slug sign says it all really….At least on the front page we get to know about Joel and Victoria (that’s  why there are about eighteen photos of Joel on the front page of the website.)

Maybe NOT the hair you always wanted, but it’s actually ok to be bald if you are the pastor as we all know that being the leader of a place like this makes up for all of the follicle deficiencies.

There you have it folks.  Rest assured,  Susan Boyle won’t be fronting up to a microphone on these stages any time soon.

written by Steve