A few years back I was on a tour in Israel.  It was a great experience although I preferred the archaeological, historical, cultural aspects over the visits to ancient churches; they were just so commercialized.

In Bethlehem we visited the church built on the site where they believe Jesus was born. Apparently, each year at Christmas time this church is the site of some big program on TV. The part that struck me was when the guy telling us about the church said they used to use a live baby for the program but that was too much of a hassle. Now they just have a plastic Jesus.

Isn’t that just how we like our relationship with God? The living God is really a hassle; he’s always asking us to do this, go here, serve this person and that person. It’s much easier to have a plastic God – convenient, still and silent.