The Matter at Hand (And OH is it a mighty big hand)

I've heard a lot of talk and read a lot of words lately about relevance - as pertaining to Christ. You know, making sure our teachings are relevant to the children or the congregation. To this I say HOO-HAH!! Seriously.

Perhaps it's best if if we breakdown the definition of RELEVANT.

American Heritage Dictionary defines relevant as:
Having a bearing on or connection with the matter at hand.
Merriam Webster defines it like this:
1.(a) having significant and demonstratable bearing on the matter at hand. (b) affording evidence tending to prove or disprove the matter at issue or under discussion (c) having social relevance
2. proportional; relative

Synonyms for both indicate being "pertinent": which is defined as having a clear, decisive relevance to the matter at hand.

Now. Here's what I think of when I hear the word(s) relevant, relevance and pertinent:
Three dairy farmers are sitting around talking about Jersey cows (big ol' black-n-white, cud-chewing Jersey cows). They are discussing all it takes to raise the Jersey's. Where they let them pasture, how they keep them healthy and how they all believe they have found their own special mixture of feed they provide their stock to produce the best quality of milk. Then another farmer walks up and says (and I quote), "I like mayonaise on my bologna sandwich."
That last farmer offered up some interesting information (to be sure), but that is NOT relevant to the matter at hand.

Ok, so. Maybe the way I make relevance most clear in my mind is to define what it is not. But I think that knowing what something is NOT, can sometimes just a beneficial as knowing what it IS.

This is where my problem lies with making Christ relevant to our children and congregation at large. They way I see it, and correct me if I'm wrong, those speaking this brand of Christianese are trying to find creative ways to make Christ pertinent to the "world" we live in. I just don't see how that's possible. Jesus is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow. He tanscends the "world" of yesterday, the "world" of today and the "world" of tomorrow. He is unchanging. He's always been the same as He is today and always will be the same as he was yesterday.

Now, please try to follow my logic, here. I COMPLETELY understand that there is a LOT of distraction from Christ. I COMPLETELY understand that a great multitude of us have to work VERY hard to find His still and gentle calling in the loud, hustle-n-bustle of this crazy world in which we live. I get it. I do.

What I don't get is how we try to dress Jesus up in parodies like:
Flava-Flav (yeah- I know) Finds a Virtuous Wife and Spongebob Squarepants goes to Bible-camp.

Why are we so busy trying to make Jesus relevant our lives? Where we can watch what we watched yesterday...where we can do the things we're doing today...where we can keep watching and doing the same things tomorrow.

Jesus is NOT relevant to the The Hills. So why try to make Him? Jesus is NOT relevant to Worlds of Warcraft. So, why try to fit Him in?

It's kind of like the last farmer coming in and saying, "Hey. I know you're talking about dairy cows, but did you know that ranchers feed their beef corn? And some of those ranchers sell their stock to makers of bologna? Have you ever eaten bologna made from beef parts of a cow fed with corn? I like to eat bologna from those cows. I make sandwiches out of it and when I eat them, I like to put mayonaise on 'em." (???) The last farmer able to make a connection between their discussion and his topic of importance. (That's pretty creative thinking by him.) But now, the dairy farmers will certainly talk about the guy who puts mayonaise on his bologna sandwich, but are they going to be compelled to try to find corn-fed beef bologna, stick it between to slices of mayonaise-coated bread and actually eat the sandwich?

It's Another Day in Montgomery and I ask:
Shouldn't we be more concerned with the importance of making OUR lives more relevant to who Jesus is and less concerned with trying to make Jesus more relevant to how we live?