A mob. Stranded in the wilderness. Their clothes, tattered; their faces gaunt; all they care about is winning a million dollars — and you are there.

A dull, but handsome entrepreneur; 20 vapid, but stunning women fighting over him — and you are there.

A veritable army of obese Americans; tears and temptations; the miraculous loss of hundreds of pounds in but a few months — you are there.

As a society, we have worked ourselves into a place where the vicarious is good enough. We don’t need to participate in the Thing, watching the the Thing is fine. Perhaps better. We are so absorbed with and taken up with the vicarious that we believe it is somehow meritous, as though we had actually participated in the Thing.

The Church in North America is set up to accommodate this, and has been established this way for quite some time — Reality TV could learn a thing or two from us.

And here you are: you come to a building. You sit in proximity to people who are passionately worshiping. You sit in proximity to someone who is speaking Truth. You sit in proximity to others who are feeding the hungry and clothing the naked. It is this act of sitting in proximity to Holiness that is in large part rendering the Church impotent.

People equate their attendance with action, as if watching and listening were somehow participating in the Thing itself.

Disappear into a large congregation. Have no one speak into your life. Do not engage. Just as you will not win the million, take home Mr Right, or lose those last 50 lbs, so too will you not share in the Harvest.

Laziness is complicity.