The Church on the way

I have been thinking a lot lately about what the church is and what the church is called to be. You may not realize it, but there are many opinions on the subject. Over the past few weeks I have been asking people to share with me what they believe about the church. OK, when I refer to church I am talking about the Church of Jesus Christ, the universal church, the body of Christ in the world. I understand also that when we think of church we also speak out of the context of the local church and for better or worse, the geographical location of a building where the congregation meets.

The answers have ranged from bewildered looks to radical ideas that look very different from what we currently experience on Sunday mornings… or Wednesday nights… or whenever we gather together. When discussing what the church should look like I am hearing everything from room furnishings to street ministry. What this tells me is that when we talk about the church or the Church we see the world through different lenses.

I, too, have been trying to look at the church through different lenses. As our building committee and consistory talk with an architect about creating a new facility I get excited about the possibilities of establishing a community center where the stuff of faith and societal issues come together. I think how amazing it could be to truly welcome people as they are and create an environment for new seekers and longtime disciples can worship, study, play, pray, eat and work together. I imagine a place where people point to each other when showing where the church is.

But I am also excited about another vision of the church. What if? Brace yourselves…. What if we decided that the true nature of the church is really where people point to each other and say that is the church? What if we pooled our resources and began to worship and pray and play in each other’s homes and we went out into the community to provide the presence of Christ through our ministry? The church would take on the feeling of parish where we focused on all the people around us and not just ourselves. Such a radical idea may seem foreign. And yet that is how the church began. If you don’t believe me read Acts 2.

So which is the better vision for the church? Perhaps we should look at a combination of the two. Of course there is another possibility. We could just keep on as we have been doing. We could just stay put. But that hardly seems an option for the Church or as we were once called… People of the Way.

Confirmation

This evening our confirmands will be in retreat. Hmmmm... retreat. Retreat means to get away, to turn away and turn around, to remove one's self. In the church we often think of retreat as a necessary breaking away from the noise and clutter of the world so we can focus better on Jesus and hear God speak to us in that still small voice that we allow to get swallowed up when we are in that place which is "not retreat." 

But as I think about this weekend, I am also painfully aware of how our congregations spend so much of life in retreat. We retreat from that which might be controversial or upsetting. We turn away from seeing and hearing the things which are uncomfortable or seem impossible to do anything about. We retreat from conversation that is deep and meaningful because it might touch on the stuff of life that calls us to accountability. We retreat from our neighbors who may not walk the journey of faith just like we do. We keep things on the surface because deep down we may just come face to face with God... which is a great thing but what if we discover God isn't like what we learned or thought? Maybe God is greater than our imagination. Imagine that! In the process we may just come face to face with ourselves and realize that there is so much more to learn in this world.

I pray for a powerful retreat with God for our young people this weekend. 

I pray that when we come home we all might choose to embrace those other things we have been retreating from. Just as Peter, James and John retreated with Jesus on a mountaintop... and wanted to stay there... they discovered that on coming back to earth the face of Christ is most powerfully seen in the places we least expect or imagine... in the everyday. 

Race, Politics, and the Church

Recently the relationship between church, politics, race, and justice have gotten quite ugly in the national news. It's true that Jeremiah Wright, the retired pastor of Trinity United Church of Christ where Barack Obama attends, is a controversial figure. In the media we've been treated to a short clip of one of Wright's sermon's played over and over again, saying something that many people would consider hateful. Certainly this footage caught him at an angry moment. It's disturbing, however, that the commentators and articles reporting on this issue tend to put words in Wright's mouth, or make statements about his beliefs without citations. They aren't merely reporting what he has said, but interpreting what he has said and then reporting their interpretation as fact. In the middle of Holy Week, the accounts of Jesus' trial and crucifixion are still fresh. Notice that Jesus' ministry was treated the same way as he was brought before Pilate (Luke 23:1-5).

It's helpful to put this national hubbub into context. I'm not talking about the context of the entire sermon that Wright preached, or the whole body of his message in the time that he's been the pastor of Trinity, though this would give us a much better impression of Wright and Trinity UCC. I'm talking about the biblical context of what the prophetic voice is all about. Though out the history of the Hebrew people presented in the scriptures there's a constant wrestling with political leadership and justice. Each king and administration of the Hebrew people had to be reminded of what was right in the eyes of God by the prophets. This made prophets unpopular people. They talked about God's righteousness and anger and were often killed for it. Even king David, who was described as a man after God's own heart (Acts 13:22) needed Nathan's prophetic voice to convince him that his actions toward Bathsheba and Uriah the Hittite were wrong (2 Samuel 12:1-15).

The separation of church and state does two things. First, it keeps our nation free from being taken over by one particular religious group or denomination. Second, it keeps citizens free to practice spirituality and religion as they see fit. It allows the church to have a prophetic voice in society, separate from the values of the majority. It allows us to raise our voice against injustice in society, against the hypocrisy of our elected leaders, and abuse from corporate entities. The pastor is not the same as an elected public official. The pastor will not always say things that people will want to hear. In fact, a pastor doing his or her job will often say things that challenge, convict, and even deeply offend.

Even mentioning race seems to have become a taboo subject, as exemplified in this election. There many people who are afraid to talk about race at all, but this is just boiling under the surface for a huge number of the population. On one end we have a number of people who think we're pretty much over racism, but make sweeping comments about the entire black community, particularly whenever inner city crime and welfare come up in conversation. On the other hand we have many African Americans who feel racism, misunderstanding, and lack of trust from people, but who can't talk about it without being accused of "playing the race card". I wonder if the commentators discussing this issue on the news have ever talked to a black man about what it's like to try and catch a cab, or the nervousness that they feel in talking to a police officer, or how even thinking about dating a white woman causes a stir amongst that woman's self declared liberal parents. When we look into our hearts, into our interactions with friends and families we know that this is how things are in this country. Where is God's heart in this mess? Why can't we talk about it?

Your Share

Remember that there is a meaning beyond absurdity. Be sure that every little deed counts, that every word has power. Never forget that you can still do your share to redeem the world in spite of all absurdities and frustrations and disappointments.
Abraham Joshua Heschel