The sight of a woman being tattooed live on the altar accompanied by the sound of a buzzing ink gun provided a startling backdrop to Sunday's evangelical sermon.
Your parents' church service this was not. In the drive to stay relevant, the Gold Creek Community Church has been hosting a series called 'Permanent Ink' that featured Sunday's live-tattoo finale.
The Mill Creek, Wash., church is not exactly staid — booming 20-minute rock sets launch regular sermons — yet the pastors acknowledge this series was pushing societal norms.
'We've said from the start that we are not advocating tattoos — nor discouraging them,' said pastor Larry Ehoff.
'We think of it as amoral. It's neither immoral nor moral, it's just the choice of a person.'
Ehoff said the church is telling the same story of Jesus as always, it's just finding different ways to tell it.
Sharon Snell was one of several congregants who volunteered to be tattooed Sunday. At the noon service, she got on stage and faced away from about 150 parishioners while tattoo artist Matt Sawdon worked on the image of a police shield on her lower back. . . .
As Snell's tattoo took shape, pastor Dan Kellogg told the congregation that permanent markings, both good and evil, are mentioned in the Bible. The most famous symbol, he said, is '666,' the sign of the devil.
But there's also mention in the Bible of markings on Jesus, saying he is the king of kings and lord of lords, Kellogg said. . . .
Last week, as part of the Permanent Ink series, a member of the church had a tattoo of Texas removed.
Because the equipment was too cumbersome to transport, parishioners watched a video of the process.
The man now lives in Washington, and he doesn't see much need for the Lone Star State anymore.
So what need is there for any of this? Why is preaching THE WORD OF GOD somehow not enough? What does preaching about tattoos, complete with live-action object lessons, have to do with ANYTHING, other than, perhaps, trying to project an aura of coolness that the church really doesn’t even have, since aficionados of tattoos already know how they are made?
First the Gospel is dropped, leaving only Law, and next the Law is also dropped, leaving I’m not sure what–a sense of belonging? feeling good? just coming to church for its own sake?
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