Last weekend we had the Farmers Festival here in our town.  It’s always a great time.  Lots of excitement... crowning of the festival queen... the art show...the Bob Seger cover band... farmapalooza... the mechanical bull at the party tent... cotton candy... fireworks...tractor pull... and of course the parade.

My kids love the parade for all the right reasons... tons of candy!  Everybody in the parade throws out lots of candy for the kids and it’s very cool.  This year we came home with over 4 pounds of candy.  I’m not kidding!

Some cool floats this year...the corn maze truck was sweet!  It has a cheese burger on the roof, a rooster on the front, and an alien on the side.  Not sure how all those go together but it was way cool.

The Ricola men were cool too...

You can’t see it in this picture but on the semi truck bed, there is a full band playing along.  Totally awesome in my book!

And then there were the tractors...

It being the “farmers festival”... means there were more tractors in this parade than any parade in the history or time.  I wish I had an old tractor to just drive around town!

But something really struck me this year at the parade.  It was how the local church was representing itself to the community.

This one was doing a good job I think...

Their float was rocking with music, and tons of objects made from recycled stuff, people in tyedyed shirts, lots of candy... way cool. It actually won float of the year, and I didn’t get a good picture of it, just the back “Care For Gods Earth”. 

And then there was this float...

No candy, no music, just a mini replica of their building on a trailer with puttputt plastic green grass.

And this one...

At least this one had some people on there throwing candy to the kids.  But there it was again, a mini replica of a building.  Almost looks the same as the other float, white with black roof and a steeple.

And so my gears began to crank.  My frustration began to creep back.  Why do so many churches promote a building instead of Jesus.

I’ve seen these floats and others like them in many parades over the years.  And I just wonder why people are so in love with their white buildings.

Do people really think that a mini model of their building is a great way to represent Jesus? 

I didn’t see any farmers with mini models of their barns.  I didn’t see any banks, hospitals, or businesses with mini models of their buildings... no not one.  I didn’t see anyone else in the parade have a mini model of their buildings.

But for some reason churches like to do this.

I wonder if they think people will flock to their buildings when the see their “cool” mini models?

What does this say about the Church in rural America?

Are we obsessed with our buildings?  Are we telling people that Church is the Building? 

If we really believed that “we” are the Church... what would that float look like?

And I’ll close with this last picture from the parade.  This guy, and usually his wife, drive every year thru the parade in this car, waving bibles out the windows, blaring hymns...

Oh and for those wondering about the gray car... no candy!

Can’t wait for the parade next year!