The Victorious Life Family

by Mike McMillan. Copyright 1999.

Welcome, a very warm and smiling welcome
To the Church of Saatchi & Saatchi.
Everybody is young.
Everybody is good-looking.
Everybody is well-dressed.
Everybody is dancing to the catchy music,
Having fun with the product.

Jesus is the product.
Jesus has had an image update.
Jesus is very 90s.
Does that mean there's a Year 2000 bug?

The pastor looks like he used to sell used cars.
He looks like he sold a lot of them.
They would have been highly polished, like the music and the announcements.
They might or might not have been mechanically sound.
If it turned out that they weren't, who would blame him?
He's such a lovely guy.

The tomb is always empty when he preaches,
The church is always full.
He tells everyone that this means God's blessing is on him.
There is no cross anywhere, in the church or in the preaching.

It's like heaven here, because
They sing all the time,
And nobody is poor or old or ugly,
Nobody is disabled or sick or weary,
Nobody looks unhappy.

I seem to hear a voice crying faintly:
"How dare you turn my father's house into a marketplace?"
"Come to me if you are weary.
Take my yoke upon you, learn from me."
"Take up your cross every day and follow."

The voice is drowned out in the happy music.
The weeping face cannot be seen among all the smiles.

I wonder: Where does this church hide its pain?
Where does it put all the struggling, the suffering,
The disappointment, the disillusionment, the hurt?
What happens when the product isn't fun?

A lot of people leave the church.
Commitment isn't a 90s thing.
Lots more come in.
When they come in it's a sign of blessing.
It's never mentioned what their leaving is a sign of.

At the Victorious Life Family
They have a vision for growth.
Unfortunately the pastor has just stolen the building fund
And run off with his secretary.
Who could have predicted that?

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