Does God Attend Church? Re-Thinking Where Faith Should Be Lived, part 5

The Domestic Church is the Real Church

When we think about the basic unit of society, we inevitably think of the family. Of course, the nature of what defines a family is rapidly shifting and re-arranging itself in our society. I should add that the definition of family has been challenged and re-arranged several times over the centuries and even today takes on many different shapes depending on which culture and which individual family one is looking at. Yet, regardless of the definition we use or would prefer to use it can be agreed that family life has an incredible impact on individuals: their worldview, their future health, their future relationships, etc. etc. etc.

This is just as true when it comes to matters of faith. A great loss in many parts of North American Christianity is the loss of what I will call the domestic church, this meaning the vibrant union of Christian faith with ordinary family life. This means the development and practice of rituals, customs and family life patterns that intersect with Christian faith. Many evangelical Christians still practice family devotions, which would be one example of this.

But I’m thinking especially about the Christian calendar: the annual cycle of feasts and observances that is meant not only for worship gatherings but for Christians to observe at home as well. Many countries with Christian heritages have wonderful customs and traditions related to this calendar such as special cakes for Epiphany, eating by candlelight during Advent, the blessing of the home annually by the parish priest, etc.

We have forgotten in a real sense how to evangelize and socialize our children, grandchildren, godchildren, nieces and nephews into the faith. Somehow we’ve been led to believe that if we can take them to worship – a one hour event- once a week then they will somehow learn to live the Christian life. It takes more than weekly attendance at worship and participation in some educational program to introduce someone to the Christian life, the best way to do that is by experience living that life.

I believe Church leaders, lay and ordained, need to bend over backwards to find ways to encourage the observance of the faith at home. This will usually mean having to teach adults first, who will then teach their children. Some good resources on these topics can be found here from an Evangelical perspective, here from a Catholic perspective, and here from a Protestant perspective.

How can we begin this mammoth task?

(I want to add a disclaimer here: my statements are not meant to be accusatory toward parents. In fact, I think it is people like me who are in large part to blame for this situation, as we --Christian pastors and teachers -- have so often failed to equip families with the tools they need to observe the faith at home).

Does God Attend Church? Re-Thinking Where Faith Should Be Lived, part 4

Killing the Minister

One of the reasons that North American Christians have so frequently limited Christian commitment and faith to church gatherings is because of a concept, a concept I will refer to as “the minister.” In many Christian traditions there is in fact an individual who is referred to as “the minister.” This concept is deadly to a lifestyle sense of Christianity. I am not against the concept of ministers or even a concept of ordained ministers who have a special -- but not better -- role in the Body of Christ (i.e. that is a sacramental role).

What I am against is the concept that the essential ministry and mission of the Church is carried out principally, almost entirely, by one man (Though lately, thankfully, in many mainline denominations we could also say by one woman). Of course, we know this doesn’t literally (usually!) mean one man or woman, but that one person does the significant work while others assist. The rise of specialization in our society in the modern era has not helped this perception either. In age of certifications, advance degrees and specialized training courses, people are often led to believe that they can’t even breathe without having the proper credentials, certifying they have been trained by the experts (whose own breathing status is, in many peoples’ opinion, quite questionable).

Every Christian is called to “minister” in the sense of serving others in Christ’s name; in the sense of advancing the Kingdom of God by how they live and how they refuse to live; in the sense of passing on the faith to the next generation (their kids, but others as well); and so on. Yes, some are called to a particular role that supports this general calling of all Christians, that supports the gathered life of the Church, but the gathering ministers (bishops, priests, pastors, church staff, etc.) must always remember they are in the business of equipping and supporting other Christians for discipleship, ministry and mission in their daily lives. No one person or even special group of persons can accomplish the work of the Body of Christ all by themselves; it’s a team effort, through and through.

Growing up I had an interim pastor who was a strong proponent of the ministry of all Christians, especially the laity. Her notice in the bulletin (more typical now) “Ministers: The People of Saint Peters” was not met with universal acclaim.  Not only is this shift from a ministerial person to a ministerial congregation often difficult for the laity to make, it is also often very difficult for clergy to make (most of us were trained to be lone rangers, see here for example). Both groups of people (and of course many protest at this division to begin with) have been trained to understand the Church’s life in a particular way, but we must ask, is this the Jesus way?

I am not an advocate for the removal of ordained ministry and my reasons are not entirely self-serving, so much as sacramental and Biblical (the priestly people of God need ministerial priests to remind them of who they are, priests are more symbols than mere functionaries, but I digress…for more of that click here, then click on May 22 "A priestly people").

How can we kill the minister and in the process bring life to a ministerial people of God? 

Does God Attend Church? Re-Thinking Where Faith Should Be Lived, part 3

From Services to Service

As I mentioned in an earlier post, we need to shift the principal focus and locus of Christian commitment away from Sunday morning to every morning, to every day, to life itself.  One way of breaking ground in this tough transition from event-based Christianity to lifestyle Christianity is to emphasize that attendance at worship services should lead to personal and familial acts of service. In other words, our worship of our God should lead to living for our God by “loving our neighbors as ourselves.”

 In fact, the basic shape of liturgical worship is organized around this premise.  The congregation – mostly scattered from each other during the week – gathers together to remember who they are,  to acknowledge the divine Other, and to be strengthened for service by Word and sacrament. Traditionally, it is the deacon, who is an icon of servant hood (more on that here), who dismisses with the congregation with a charge to “Go in peace to love and serve the Lord.”  Unfortunately, we could, to fit popular attitudes, change the dismissal to something like “Thank God it’s over!” or “See you next Sunday” or “Religious obligation done for this week” etc. 

Communal worship is where God’s people are gathered together and then sent out as individual and familial “lights of the world” into their neighborhoods, schools, and jobs, as well as their family and friendship circles. After a week of living for Christ most of us have had some failures, have taken a hit or two or experienced some amazing moments of grace. It is then high time to return from our scattered lives to be gathered once again as the people of God. This cycle of being gathered and being sent can be found in the life of Jesus and in many the great renewal movements of Church history (As an aside, Dominican spirituality is particularly modeled after this pattern of gathering and sending, contemplation and proclamation).  

What can we do in our worship services to highlight this reality?

-          You will find in some churches the following sign above their exit-ways, “You are now entering the mission field (see here).”  I imagine the effect of this sign depends in large part on the frequency of that congregation’s teaching, witness, and preaching regarding the call to Christian service.

-          There are some congregations that are canceling their regular services one or more times a year to engage in volunteerism and service in their community (see here). I think this is on the right track, though there are some subtle dangers in the cancelling of worship services for other (more?) "worthy causes.”

-          Perhaps a series of testimonies/faith stories from individual congregants that highlight the connection between worship and their service to others throughout the week

What ideas do you have?

Feast of the Ascension

Tomorrow is the feast of the Ascension. The Ascension is traditionally one of the high feast days of the Church year. However, it usually gets very little attention from the average Christian because it usually falls on a weekday. This celebration recalls that after spending forty days with the first Christians after His resurrection, Jesus ascended, that is returned to heaven. The first chapter of the book of Acts records this event and seems to imply that Jesus was literally lifted up into the sky.  Exactly how, being both God and man, Jesus returned to God the Father and the divine realm are mysteries we cannot explain. However, the importance of this event cannot be under estimated for our own lives as Christians.

The Ascension strikes several chords that ring important truths for Christians:

1. The Ascension completed Jesus’ passion further proving His messiah-ship. 

2. The Ascension is also the event through which Jesus’ humanity was taken into heaven, even into the Trinity itself. This is a great mystery, but also a great encouragement for us to know that God did not only create us, but that God understands us from our own human point of view. 

3. The Ascension completes Jesus’ victory over Satan. A victory He won at the cross and through His resurrection.  The final battle remains to be won by Jesus (at the second coming), but through the Cruxification, Resurrection, and Ascension Jesus has already won the war against Satan and “all the spiritual forces of wickedness which rebel against God” (BCP, 302).

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.