For all of Christendom the next two weeks will be Big. Palms. Passion. Last Supper. Crucifixion. Resurrection We'll cover it all.
The pews will be (relatively) packed and we who organize, choreograph, prepare, lead will also pray that all our efforts will result in something inspiring and beautiful.
And if we still have faith that God makes a difference, we can’t help but also pray that someone who confidently strides (or cautiously wanders) through the doors will be Changed.
Or is this really our prayer?
Question to church people out there everywhere:
Am I too shallow/naïve/hopelessly romantic/childlike to still believe that The Church Matters? That we can transform the world for good through Jesus?
Or is that not what it’s all about for most people who still do church?
In the congregation I serve, on the Sunday after Easter – one of the High Holy Days for Associate Pastors, when most Senior Pastors/Heads of Staff will be on vacation “to recover” and most worshippers will also take the Sunday off having done their spiritual duty for the season – our congregation will celebrate its 60th anniversary.
What were we thinking? More “special music” (as if the usual music is not-so-special). More memorial flowers. More sermon presssure.
OR an exceptional opportunity to ask what we've been doing for the last 60 years.
So . . . what have any of our congregations been doing over the last 10, 20, 60, 250 years?
Answers I dread:
- perpetuating an institution that made us feel like we belonged to something good
- offering a community that taught us basic Bible stories and how to be solid citizens
- providing a place to send the kids to learn positive values
Answers I long to hear:
- offering a glimpse of the glory of God
- inspiring all kinds of people to bring about the Reign of God on earth as it is in heaven
- changing lives and, in a small way, changing the world through Jesus Christ
Am I nuts? Are there any others who believe this is why we do what we do?
Or is the mission too off-track, the vision too shallow, the church-for-the-church's-sake paradigm too entrenched?
Anybody?
Posts
8 comments:
this post connected with some real points of struggle for me right now. i'm not yet awake enough for a coherent comment, but... i just wanted to say thank you. hopefully i'll post or comment later.
Oy! Celebrating the 60th anniversary the Sunday after Easter sounds like you're courting some serious burnout of pastors and layfolks alike. i hope it all goes well.
A good question for any church at any time is whether or not the community around it would be any different if it weren't there.
You're not naive--you're trying to be faithful and keeping your eye on the ball (so to speak!).
I think there are glimpses of your hoped-for category. I haven't been here all those years, but I trust there have been moments when the sun of the Spirit broke through the clouds of worldly obligation and the response from those who felt it amounted to glorifying God. Is there a church where everyone feels it every Sunday? Probably not other than in our dreams. But we keep at it, creating opportunities for the light to break through and actually be witnessed.
Your hoped for answers are why I am entering ministry.
I dread the hours the next few weeks but on sunrise on the 8th, I long to proclaim he is risen.
I dislike a church that does not believe in the mission of the gospel and believes more in itself. How can we be a church or a body of Christ if we are not proclaiming the kingdom, Telling about the Love of God for us and changing one life at a time? I think you so correct.
More than 10 years ago while I was a fallen away church goer, I asked a colleague of mine what she thought about God. She always spoke of her membership in her Presbyterian church and teaching Sunday School and I had attended her second daughter's baptism. Her response was "God? I don't believe in God. I just go to church because it's cheaper than a country club" (she lived in a very tony area of Pasadena). Between then and now, I find that a lot of people in churches have this view. Or one of what I call "Jesus lite". All form and no substance.
So, you're not at all naive. Some of the emergent churches are interesting, but I find a lot of them prefer to ignore scripture and Jesus and incorporate new agey, non scriptural ideas. It's a hard time. My view is: the church does NOT matter, Jesus does and that's always been the point. There's too much argument over what the 'church' should be. And it's become a man-made institution for the most part these days and not enough a lens for God's light. Gotta go back to prayer and the Bible and keep goin'.
Presbyterian Gal - and all --
It's been such an interesting day for this discussion.
I wish people could indeed be as honest as your Pasadena friend. I generally wonder if many (most?) members see their church commitment in this way.
As we plan our congregations 60th anniversary, I see why the church became less important to the community over the years. Often it's about individual power, clubbiness, self-promotion instead of Christ. I watch members argue over who gets time at the mike to talk about their own family members. I hear others express concern that they will not be able to feature their favorite members.
Who wants/needs this? More later.
^60th - a diamond jubilee. What a great event to talk about the Light of Christ and His jewel, the Church.
If you are familiar with Saarinen's congregational life-cycle theory, the churches that become clubby/ social venues are very far down the decline curve. These are the places where they have forgotten why they are church together, and not simply a country club.
I too see signs of your longed for answers. The trick is to help people to remember/ reconnect to that.
I enjoy your blog; you always raise rich material for discussion. Sorry to enter the conversation late...
Pax, C.
Post a Comment