Midwest Memo
That old-time religion
by Alan Shultz

"This is church?" That was the question posed on an enormous billboard I saw from my train seat the other day. On the billboard gymnasts leaped through mid air, dancers twirled and musicians appeared to fill the otherwise silent space.

Implied in the handsome graphics depicting dance and music and entertainment was a clear message. There's something new in store for the congregant who chooses to attend this mega-church starting a new branch congregation.

The competition to the gymnasts, dancers and musicians showed up in living color on advertising plastered to the side of a bus, make that many buses, pushing through traffic jams over the weekend.

The co-pastors depicted in the ad appear to be a young married couple. Their twin hair colors are golden, California sun golden in a contemporary coif with plenty of gel. In this particular photo their hands are not holding the Starbucks coffee cups they've sported in previous newspaper ads.

"This is church?" The question from the leaping and twirling ad campaign seemed to echo, but now the question was in reply to the slick invitation from the good looking youngsters making the direct pitch to come and worship with them.

I don't presume to have much of an opinion on all this advertising for church. The path to faith and worship is decidedly an individual one. I suppose the Madison Avenue approach to filling the pews is as fair as the threats of fire and brimstone of yesteryear.

Faith, no matter how one comes by it, makes its mark.

At the Presbyterian Home for senior citizens in Evanston, Ill., a special worship service is designed for patients suffering from different forms of dementia. The leaders of this worship program have found that dementia patients often respond to familiar hymns, familiar Bible passages. A person who may not remember their own name still may be able to sing the words to a familiar hymn or recite the 23rd Psalm.

Our religious training can plant deep roots.

Religion served with coffee and well coifed hair.

Religion served with entertainment, twirling and toe tapping music.

Is there indeed "anything new under the sun?"

The other day I found the thinnest of volumes on the desk of a friend who passed away almost a year ago. The relatives had all long come and gone taking from the house all they wanted. The house sale ladies had come and gone, gone too were the crowds of buyers of antiques and collectibles who had lined up early in the morning to get first chance at all the valuables.

After all that rummaging, after all that toting and carting away, the thin little volume 3

inches by 5 inches remained.

"The Bible, when you want it," was first printed in 1932 by Lewis Gaston Leary. Leary went on to reprint his work at least 24 more times.

Leary's work is the equivalent of a paper contraption of inspiration. It invites the reader to "Search the Scriptures" when confronted with a certain situation. In an intricate form of paper folding and indexing, a helpful Bible verse for "doubting," or "perplexed" can be found by flipping that section over to find Bible passages applicable to doubting or perplexed.

Other topics include: happy, thankful, prosperous, in love, confident, critical, angry, sorrowing, sinful, and tempted. Today's headlines borrow from other topics covered like illtreated, lonely, bereaved, repentant and self-satisfied.

It seems that the scenery and colors on the path to faith may change with time. Brimstone may yield to tumbling and dance. Suit and tie may yield to shorts and a latte in the pews. But it also seems that today's challenges are clearly also those of yesterday. And the faith and inspiration to meet those challenges, well that proves to be a true constant.