Where are we?

Where are we?

These past Lenten evenings we’ve been going through the different “seasons”; of life, of faith, of growth in God – as expressed through the season in the book Naked Spirituality, by Brian McLaren

It’s a journey of growth and development… a pilgrimage of sorts. Although this one doesn’t necessarily have a physical goal, unlike some more typical pilgrimages; like Mecca, or Jerusalem, or some famous Catholic pilgrimage sites like Santiago De Compostela in Spain, there is a goal of deeper connection with God and growth – of Spirit, and as a person.

This all has been an invitation for people to go though these season; what these “seasons” might be like, the pit-falls and blessings, the scary times and restful times, the blossoming of one season into another. This book was designed to help people, individuals, as they traversed the landscape of faith.

But this god me thinking about us as a community – Where are we in the journey? What are we here for? And how are we doing church together? I ask the council this question often- but I don’t think they have enough hooks to hang the question on (not enough specific issues to look at), so their answers are general and vague (“Good” and “okay”)

There are many lists out there, lists of what a healthy congregation looks like, what healthy congregations are like, how healthy congregations act like, etc. The point of which all are to help make church communities places where people can grow: in God, in faith, and in their own maturity, and learn about who they are called to be in the world.

But how do you know when you’ve “made it”? How do you measure “success”? Well, the easy way is to count numbers. With numbers you can’t measure maturity very well – you can see it as it plays out in communication and leadership and other aspects of life in the church, but it’s hard to measure!

Can you measure success by measuring the amount of money in a church, or by the numbers of ministries? Yes, you can measure that for sure. Can you measure success by how people care for each other? Or how they engage in the world as a community – together – and as individuals? Well this is a little harder to measure that way.

So we often stick to what we know… and it does lead us to making measurable statistics mean more than they might mean. I remember a conversation years ago between a pastor from a “conventional” Lutheran church- the kind that’s out there all over the place, and a pastor (who happened to be a Lutheran as well) of a community church (although NOT fundamentalist).

The Community church has been around this in this community for about 50 years or so, based on a church in DC that really places a strong emphasis on community action as an integral part of a life of discipleship. I don’t mean they just think it’s important, like many Lutheran churches do. I mean it was and I think still remains, one of a handful of overt expectation that members are required to participate in. Now, the typical Lutheran church does not have overt expectations and obligations for membership. We just wait for people to express their interest in membership, they often go through some form of class (often learning about Lutheran theology, and what life is like in that particular congregation), then they are “received” as members- with often little more expectation than the expectation to take with them their offering envelops.

Well in this community church, the emphasis is heavy on mission in the world and the growth (spiritual, emotional, etc) of the person- so there are some expectations that they be part of a care group in the community, that they engage the world in some fashion, and a few other expectations there. It reminds me of the “rules” some religious orders might have- something written that a prospective member would know ahead of time, some order or rule thing that guides their lives together. This church has it’s version of a “rule” I think. So, not everyone who attends this community church becomes a “member”. In fact, there have been more non-members than members.

So the pastor of this church, and the pastor of a pretty large Lutheran parish were talking about ways to measure success in churches. In the exchange, the pastor of the Lutheran church asks the other pastor how many members they had. And since the pastor of this community church had fewer members- because here, membership brought with it some pretty heavy responsibilities, not everyone actually becomes one- the other pastor (of the larger Lutheran parish) rested with the pride that his perspective of success was “right”. Well, from the perspective of the pastor of the Lutheran parish, “membership” had little to nothing related to overt discipleship involved. Meaning- becoming a member of that church did not imply leading a life of discipleship (they might be leading such a life…. but it doesn’t imply it here), where as in the other church it really did express a desire to live under a certain obligation of service and commitment.

If it is easier to be a member in one church- where being a “member” means not much more than having an offering envelope with your family name on it… then one would assume that church would have more “members”, and thus more people on the roster to count. And… more measurable metrics.

Years ago, I was speaking to a pastor about this church growth stuff – saying… churches are places where people can grow in depth of spirit and faith, and can engage the world in mission. “Yes but…” he said… “If it’s working well, then they will grow” in numbers and money. But I know a big liturgical church in the area, big numbers… but a dysfunctional lead pastor- from a person close to the lead pastor- close enough to recognize some pretty dramatic psychological issues. Some have described the church as destructive and harmful. Many people there on Sunday there though!!!

It’s hard for me to accept that numbers are anything more than just the number pf people in any given church or organization… and that’s it. I can’t see where higher numbers automatically mean a healthier place. And the converse is also true- it is a logical fallacy to say that a small church means a more unhealthy place as well. Numbers are not necessarily an indicator of health.

I heard a pastor once say- just as hospitals are a place for sick peope to go to in order to get better, so too, churches are places for broken people to come heal. It is not surprising that many have found deep spirituality in AA or NA – “the rooms” – places where people do not have to pretend they are okay all the time. These are places where it is okay to admit you are broken, and then you can start the healing process.

I’m broken- in many ways. But guess what? You’re broken too! Is this a sign of health? – To admit where broken? To admit none of us has the answers? To admit that none of us is living as best we can? I’d say it’s a start.

Where are we on our pilgrimage? What season are we in?

Are we in the freshness of Spring? Where we step into a world of God and doctrine, seeing it all in a new way… a way that brings life?

Are we in the complexity of Summer? Where we recognize we fall short of this newly discovered life in God?

Are we in the darkness of Autumn? …The season of surviving in a stark landscape of faith? … where we cry out “My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?”

Or are we in the harmony and deepening of Winter? Where we’ve traversed the bleak landscape of doubt – and now recognize we are standing on the very same ground we stood on before… only now we face outward- to a world that needs signs of life!

Those is a nut-shell, are the season in the book I mentioned earlier.

And another question: What is my job in the midst of this? What is my role here? I remember in the movie Defiance, about a group of Polish Jewish “Partisans” living in the woods fighting the Nazis during World War II one of the characters in the woods with the Jews was a Rabbi. He had seen horrible things, and now he’d left his known and comfortable life, and moved to live in the woods with other Jews – having escaped certain death in the city life he previously had. As the movie progresses, he has less and less faith… hope in a “new day” seems to flee from him as he fleed from the Nazis in the city. Close to the end, his prayer was more a prayer of recognizing the loss of hope in them all.

My role is the one who lifts up hope! Among people – as middle-class suburbanites as they may be – who themselves still struggle with hope. Granted, we are not hiding in the woods, fighting to stay alive… but nonetheless, hope seems to come and go as it pleases here as well.

We have lots we need to work on. We’re a broken church formed by broken people. We engage in the world in mission; on our own and together as a community. We ask the deeper questions of life and God- like; where are we in the journey of growth? We do not always have the right answers, but we still ask the questions.

Without comparing ourselves to others, where are we? I don’t know- But I do know we’re called to keep journeying together... through the seasons of life and faith.