Sermon Reflection | August 11, 2013

Read: Psalm 50:1-8, 22-23; Hebrews 11:1-3, 8-16
Listen: By Faith
Dig a Little Deeper: 

•      The Author refers to the Book of Hebrews as a "word of exhortation" in Hebrews 13:22, which is the same phrase used in Acts 13:15 to describe a synagogue sermon of Paul.  So while it's often called a letter, it's really, in the author's own words, a sermon.  Interesting fact to share at your next cocktail party. 
•      A note about authorship.  I like the way it's described in my New Oxford Annotated Bible:
• "When the New Testament was being formed, this anonymous sermon was attributed to Paul, presumably because of the growing authority of Paul's reputation as a letter writer.  The early church leaders Clement, Tertullian, and Origen, however, acknowledged differences in style and theology between Hebrews and Paul's own letters.  Clement argued that Luke translated Pual's Hebrew original into Greek, while Origen suggested that a disciple of Paul wrote the letter based on Paul's notes.  Modern interpreters have suggested other authors, including Apollos and Priscilla (see Acts 18.24-26).  There is no sufficient historical evidence, however, to identify any person named in the New Testament as the author" (New Oxford Annotated Bible intro to Hebrews, New Testament pg 369).
• Many if not all churches struggle with finding the commitment necessary to get dreams and ideas off the ground.  We see so much potential, so much hope, and have so much faith in our community but each thing we want to do takes action, organization, planning, brainstorming, conversation, etc. etc etc...  I've been thinking a lot about this lately, and that's why in this sermon I hoped to really prod people to consider bringing their ideas to the surface and not just handing them off but helping to execute them and make them happen.  
• I wonder, what ideas might you have for our church?  When was the last time you said, "We should..." about our church, whether it was "we should change that lightbulb" or "we should bring about the Kingdom of God," and what can you do to make it happen?  I'd love to hear your ideas.  I'd love to cheer you on and help you where I can.  

Tradition on Fire

As a part of my own ordination process in the UMC, I recently had to go through a "barrage of tests" to determine various aspects of my personality and learn how traits might impact my ministry. It was a long and draining process, but a blessing to see an outsider's view of what my gifts--and challenges--could be while pursuing my vocation.

While much of the results seemed right on-point (I'm energetic, creative, a big-picture person, and not-always-good on follow-through), one seemed ridiculously out-of-place. According to the results, I don't like history or tradition.

I was floored. Me, the Church-History-Scholar, anti-tradition. Mrs. "I wrote my senior thesis on renaissance music and to this day geek out over Tudor England," against history. I could tell you more than you'd ever care to know about the development of far too many hymns and hymnals. And yet, there was my paper reflection looking back at me, claiming my dislike of what came before. Obviously, the results were off. But why?

It seems the tests missed that my love of history stands beside my yearning for relevance. History, on its own, is never enough. A meditation by Franciscan friar Richard Rohr reminded me that we must always have one foot in our historical faith communities and one foot in the larger world; one foot rooted in a good tradition that will hold you accountable to honest (though often difficult) truths and one foot in our own worlds of service, occupation, and subgroups. Christianity, more than anything else, is a lifestyle which should move beyond mere belief and styles of worship and into new systems to support each other as we live lives contrary to dominant culture. As Rohr said,

"How else can we imitate the surrender of Jesus, who did exactly the same in relation to his own Jewish religion? He never left it, and yet in some ways he always left it when it did not heal or help people. He formed his own little "parachurch" within and yet alongside the Jewish priestly system, which became, rightly or wrongly, its own separate religion which we now call Christianity."

We've been talking at First Congo a lot recently about what our mission is to be NOW. Who we are, where we've been, and what we want to be. And a big part of that is determining how to share our identity, our message, with others beyond our walls. As anyone familiar with 12-Step programs can tell you, we don't really embrace an idea ourselves until we actively carry it with us and teach it to others. We have to find the Love, and then give the Love away. 

It's amazing to me how these two things don't always happen in the same group.  And yet, both grounds are so, so important. Our history, our tradition, is what makes us who we are, is our well-spring and home base. The other, the outside, is the channel away from home that keeps our well from pooling up or becoming brackish. God may lead us beside still waters, but those waters are never stagnant. As composer Gustav Mahler is accredited with once saying, "Tradition is tending the fire, not worshiping the ashes."

And so we must. We must all put on our Educator hats, and go forth from this place to give the Love away to those in search of it. With that mission, however, a slew of questions. If our world looks different than it did last time we thought about such things, how does that change how we share our same tradition? How does our tradition's depth of beautiful worship, history of social justice, and identity within the gospel shape our responses to the world outside? And how can our gatherings at our well-spring better prepare us to go forth as Love-givers in the community?

May we carefully--and creatively?--tend the fire, and set the whole world aflame.

Sermon Reflection | February 17, 2013

Read: Luke 4:1-13 and Luke 5:1-11 and Matthew 5:13-16
Listen: Reflection from the Turnaround Church Workshop, part one and part two
Dig a little deeper: 

The workshop that 6 of us attended this weekend was called the Turnaround Church Workshop.  The point was to talk about how we can be in the 20% of churches that are growing rather than in decline. 

Here is a song that was played at the end of the groups reflection to remember that this isn't a numbers game this is about inviting people to our community so that together we can "let the light shine."  Together, we can work to bring about a better world-- to heal the broken-hearted among us and around us.  

Some interesting statistics we learned:

• 17% of the US population is worshiping in Sunday mornings (18% in Wisconsin!)
• More than 80% of US churches are in numerical decline
• 87% of people who come to church and stay do so because they were INVITED
• 73% of people who have never gone to church say they have never been invited

Questions:

Eventually, we'd like to have a discussion outside of worship about some of what we learned, so that we can share but also get feedback instead of in the context of a sermon/message which is only one-sided.  Stay tuned for some information on when that discussion will take place. 

For now, I have a few questions-- 

1. Why do you think the church is in decline?

2. If you are a part of a church community, how did you get there?  If you aren't, what would it take to get you to come to worship?

3. Worship attendees-- is there anything else you want me to add to this blog?  I'm trying to keep it short and sweet, but please feel free to add thoughts in the comments!