Does God Attend Church? Re-Thinking Where Faith Should Be Lived, part 2

From Churchainity to Christianity

Faith is to be principally lived, witnessed to and developed in the context of everyday living. We have made the heretical mistake at times of implying that the heart of Christianity is the gathered Church, and more specifically, worship services. I believe that one of the reasons we see so many people falling away from the Church as they grow older is that for most, church was by and large, just a worship service, with maybe some additional activities added on: Sunday school, youth group, confirmation, and so on.

If a young woman or man grew up with the idea that the extent of their Christian life was attending church on Sunday, it will be relatively easy for them to drop that one hour a week. If they grew up in a nurturing, holistic Christian way of life, it will be harder (though certainly not impossible) for them to part with their faith so easily, because in this case, they are not dropping a Sunday, but a whole way of life.

This sort of talk is often interpreted as blaming parents for the failure of the Church, but that is not (in the vast majority of cases) what I am saying. The fault lies with Church leaders (yes, I include myself here) who have essentially allowed this view of churchainity to continue unchallenged. As church leaders we need to be sounding the bell that the primary domain for faith is life -  principally that part of life that takes place outside of the gathered Church: in the neighborhood, at school, at work, on vacation, whenever and wherever.

Part of this situation is largely no one’s fault, but is a result of a society that has moved beyond Christianity and no longer, as it once did to varying degrees, supported general Christian morals and values (for more on this see here). Christians will not find their faith commended or affirmed by prayers in schools, or Bible readings at public events, or by the morals of popular culture at large. This means we will be a minority and will have to grow more comfortable in being different from other people.  

To be faithful we need to spend far more time wrestling with the implications of Christian faith for living, living in practical and concrete situations by pondering questions like:

“What does it mean for me to be a Christian and a plumber?”
“I’ve got two job offers. Should my faith factor into my decision in anyway?”
“This divorce is a mess, how can I, should I, witness to my faith in the midst of all this?”

“We’re building a new house, how, if at all, should our Christian faith impact this project?”

“Should the home life of a Christian family look any different than the home life of a non-Christian family?”
“There is a controversy in the community over a new city ordinance, how should Christians respond, what if we disagree with each other?”
“What does our faith – Holy Scripture, Holy Tradition – have to say about this topic?”

Are these and similar questions being discussed and explored in depth in our churches? Do we even think such questions are integral parts of Christian discipleship?  

How can we begin to encourage a holistic Christian lifestyle again? 

Does God Attend Church? Re-Thinking Where Faith Should Be Lived, part 1

The Sunday Morning God

Most Christians understand that God has interests that extend beyond Sunday morning. Daily, millions of people around the world invoke the name of God, sometimes in prayer, sometimes on other “sacred” occasions such as after stubbing one’s toe, losing a bet or being pulled over on the highway. Yet, if you were to ask many people what defines or determines Christian commitment they would reply going to church.

As a priest I regularly meet people who seem to believe that Christianity is principally about Sunday. I say this because of the comments I typically hear from folks, “I don’t go to church” , “I know I should start attending church,” “we don’t do the church thing anymore,” “I’m sorry I missed church on Sunday, my dog ate my alarm clock,” etc. Of course, going to church, being the Church, at worship, is very much an important part of the Christian life – but it is not the entirety of that life.

A God who can only be encountered in the gathered community is a God who is absent to the ordinary believer during the rest of the week. Yes, people pray, but often people struggle to find real, deep and meaningful connections to God during their week. Is this because God is limited to gathered times of worship or because we – here meaning generations of Church leaders – have failed to teach people about how to encounter God during the remaining 6 days and 23 hours a week? God is eternally present. God is always seeking to get our attention. So yes, God “attends” church, but God is also available to believers as they jog along the side-walk, or sit at the board room meeting, or argue with a loved one.

How can we as Christians be aware of God’s presence beyond Sunday? How can the gathered church (worship services, Bible studies, social gatherings, etc.) help prepare or encourage Christians to encounter God when they are not together? 

Wanted: Men and Women for Holy Calling

Have you ever thought of becoming a priest? Or do you know a young man or woman who might be interested in the priesthood? I don’t think we spend enough time in our parishes and families asking people to consider whether God may be calling them to the priesthood. There are many reasons for this, not least of which is that many parents would prefer their children do something more significant, more normal, and more lucrative with their lives.

The average age of priests in the Episcopal Church is fifty four years old; in the Roman Catholic Church it is even older.  In recent decades a shift has taken place in vocations to the priesthood, from younger person responding to a life-long calling to older people, pursuing the priesthood after one or more careers in the marketplace. God calls all sorts of people and I am a full supporter of those priests who enter the priesthood later in life, they bring much Christian and worldly experience to the Church and their ministries.

The priesthood is a way of life that places a man or woman in constant contact with both the divine and the human aspects of life. It is an opportunity to be close to holy things, in the formal sense of that word, and an opportunity to be close to the realities of human living, with all their sorrows and joys. Please pray this week for vocations to the priesthood and please consider asking a young man or woman you know to consider the priesthood – I’d be happy to chat with them too. 

Does God Attend Church?: Re-Thinking Where Faith Should Be Lived, intro

Today I am beginning a new blog series entitled, “Does God Attend Church? Re-Thinking Where Faith Should Be Lived.” I believe this topic to be immensely important for all North American Christians to be discussing and thinking about during this in-between time as we shift from being a modern culture to a post-modern culture, from being a Christian society (so-called) to being a post-Christian society. If ordinary Christian folk don’t start talking about this stuff, we’re going to find ourselves in real trouble as a Church within the next decade.

Actually, talking won’t be enough. We’re also going to have to start doing some things, and stop doing some things, and also learn to just be. If you think I’m being dramatic and everything is going to be peachy-keen (thank you Alan for that turn of phrase) you have not been watching the landscape around you carefully.

While it is indeed possible that the Holy Spirit could rustle up a revival out of no-where it is also possible that unless we prepare ourselves for reformation and renewal the North American Church will continue to decline, and I’m not just talking about the institutions related to the North American Church, but the actual Church – people, souls, communities of disciples, and related to all that, the witness to the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ in our society.

This series isn’t meant to be an alarmist sort of thing, but rather an opportunity to engage in some real dialogue about what is the Church, who is the Church, where should the Church be or it to say it differently – who is God, where is God,  what does God ask of His people?

Looking forward to your input, our disagreements, and some fun along the way! 

Did you pack your faith?

A good question to ponder as we get ready for various spring and summer trips, flights, or vacations is, “Have I packed my faith?” I am not referring to the reality -- bemoaned by pastors across denominations -- that in many communities church attendance plummets during the summer months, but something else (yes, I do think you should find a way to worship weekly during the summer, wherever you are, even if you just share some simple prayers and a Bible reading with your friends or family).

The something else is the potential for these trips, flights, and vacations to be spiritual experiences. I picked up a habit as a teenager of making prayer intentions for various trips. Basically, I would go on a trip or a vacation and I would seek an answer to a particular question from God during the trip (“what do you want me to do with my life?” “should I join this group, etc”). This doesn’t mean I spent the whole trip in prayer or reading the Bible either. In fact, I’ve used this prayer intention practice on road trips with college buddies, visits to family, and everything else in between. I have always found an answer and often much more as the result of these prayer intentions by the end of the trip.

I challenge you to try this practice the next time you travel.

New Series Preview

Within the next couple of weeks I will begin a new blog series entitled, "Does God Attend Church? Re-Thinking Where Faith Should Be Lived."

Feel free to post questions or comments related to this upcoming series here.

Stay tuned...

And now for something completely different (click here)