I would like for you to pretend for just a moment that you have never known a thing about Christianity. I want you to pretend that you have never set foot inside a church. I want you to pretend that you have never heard the news of Jesus Christ, you don’t know a thing about what He taught, and you know absolutely nothing about the Bible’s stories or its teachings. For all practical purposes, you are a blank slate with no bias one way or the other.
I know for some of you, putting yourself in this position is not an easy thing to do. If you are like me, you grew up in the church or you have been around the church for a very long time. You learned many of the Bible stories at an early age. For me, as a pastor, this story is my story. I eat, sleep, and breathe it during the week. I constantly think about God, His Word, and it’s application to my life and the life of those around me. Separating myself from this reality is nearly impossible. So if you are having a hard time, believe me, I understand. But I still want you to try. I still want you to try and take yourself out of your Christian identity for just a few moments and pretend that you know absolutely nothing about the faith of which you and I are a part.
Take this mind-set, this vantage point of knowing nothing about the church, and look at this institution that we call the body of Christ. Look at what it does. Look at its members. Look at what it embraces. What do you see?
Now, this might darn near be an impossible task. After all, who can see or envision the entire Christian Church? I really don’t think it can be done. The church is vastly different from place to place. It functions differently in Africa and Asia and Latin America and Europe and in North America. None of it looks quite the same. Asking us to look at the whole church with a limited perspective is not fair. It’s just too large.
So, let’s narrow it down a little bit. With the mind-set of a blank slate, of knowing nothing about Christianity, take a look at the church in the United States, and tell me what you see.
Again, this might darn near be an impossibility. The church in the U.S. is broad in it’s beliefs and practices. It could be very, very confusing for anyone trying to understand what they are seeing. You have televangelists who paint a very different Christianity than Roman Catholics. Southern Baptists paint a very different picture of Christianity than Lutherans. Some articulate a prosperity gospel which says God wants you to be rich and wealthy. Others articulate a gospel of care and concern for the needy and a redistribution of wealth. Before you know it, you would become very, very confused and wonder what this faith was all about.
So, let’s take it down another notch. Let’s narrow our focus another time. Let’s take this blank slate mind set and look at the ELCA. What do we see when we make this part of the church our focus?
Once again, we would be painting with broad brush strokes. As we look at the ELCA we see people and congregations who vary in belief and practice. We know of congregations who adhere rigidly to certain interpretations of scripture. We know of congregations who play a little more fast and loose with interpretations of scripture. We know of congregations who focus on personal piety. We know of congregations who focus on corporate understandings of faith. We know of pastors who engage the political process in their preaching and teaching, and we know of others who believe such a practice is wrong. We have pastors and congregations who strive to follow the Augsburg Confession and the Book of Concord, and others who consider these documents outdated. What does this do to us as we struggle to find out what Christianity is all about? More than likely, it confuses us even more.
And so let us narrow down our view once more. Let us gaze upon this congregation of St. John Lutheran Church of Cat Spring. If we have a completely blank slate and pretend we know nothing of the Christian faith, what do we see when we look at this church in rural, East Texas? What do we see?
Ah, this might be a hard question to answer, for now we must look and gaze deeply at ourselves, and do we see a congregation engaged in the Lord’s ministry? Do we see a congregation that embodies its Lord and Savior’s message? Do we see a congregation united in its purpose to share the gospel with others? What do we see when we gaze upon our church?
Do we see in this church much of what we see in the world? Do we see confusion? Do we see people playing out their own interpretations of Scripture and battling about who is right or wrong? Do we see people engaging in the political debate and giving it a Christian cloak as they argue over who should and who should not have power? Do we see a community of faith struggling to grow more in understanding of who Jesus is and walking the path He laid out for us? Do we see a community enthusiastic and empowered to make a difference in the world?
Who knows? Who knows?
But perhaps, my brothers and sisters, on this night of nights, we need to ask one more very important question. It is a question that cuts to the core of the calling of the church. It is Jesus’ own ideal of how the church is called to operate.
When we look at our congregation, do we see people enacting Jesus’ command to love one another? Do we see people willing to set aside personal beliefs and biases to practice respect, kindness, and compassion? Do we see people willing to set aside grudges, hurt feelings, and slights to offer forgiveness and healing? Do we see people willing to love others as Jesus loved us?
If we look at ourselves with a blank-slate, do we see a community which can be identified as followers of Jesus?
For it is He who said, "By this everyone will know that you are my disciples; if you have love for one another."
Do we see this love being practiced? Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment