Thinking different... redux

NOTE: Have you ever written a sermon or message and felt like you ALMOST got it but that something was missing? I've felt that all week about Sunday's message. So last night, even though I was bone tired, I found I couldn't sleep because there was something else I had to read and then write. This, as it turns out, is why my sleep was disturbed: it is the end of my Sunday sermon notes I posted on Tuesday, December 30th.

And that is the reality I think is particularly important to emphasize this morning: that many of us – I dare say all of us if we are brutally honest with ourselves – know more about the darkness than we do the light? We have far more questions about the way of the Lord than we do answers? More doubt than security – more fear than comfort and joy, too. What’s more, we have been trained to believe that our doubts and fears are signs of weakness – a failure of faith – when they are actually a deep and significant reality for us.

Small wonder that Daniel Shoemake, a bi-vocational 20-something pastor in the Minneapolis area, wrote a brilliant new blog posted on the Christian Century site this weekend in which he claims that the American church in the 21st century is living like we’re a part of a “Gilligan’s Island” world when, in fact, our reality is much more like “Lost.” (And if you don’t know these pop culture references, let THAT will be your homework for the week.) He writes:

Though the plot of Gilligan’s Island is far more plausible than that of Lost, the characters and their conflict are far less realistic in their journey. In Lost, realistic characters have realistic reactions and unrealistic scientific and phenomenal occurrences. Amazing how pop-culture has changed! The happy-go-lucky attitude of the Brady Bunch, The Gilligan Island crew and the Partridge Family is not popular in my generation of Heroes, Lost and 24. Reality strikes as oddly important, even In unrealistic situations. And here’s the point: The church attempts to thrive in a Bradyesque façade. A mentality of ‘passing the peace’ and pasting on a smile for skin-deep reflection is not connecting with incoming generations of people.

The alternative, Shoemake continues with great insight, would be to get real – own and embrace our doubts and questions – accept and even celebrate our fears. Here’s his antidote: at the start of our next worship I would stand up and say:

Good morning everybody. Before you take your seats please take a moment to tell the person to your right what went wrong with you this week – and don’t hold back. And when you receive this unfortunate news, person on the left, make plans this week to assist the person on your right in attending to this conflict before the week ends. Oh, and if you don’t, please don’t come back.” (Congregation pulls out their phones) I believe this type of interaction gets down to the “nitty gritty” of what the church is about – people. The church is not about checkbooks, mission trips, the building fund (and the building itself) or the sermon. Church is the raw interactions of people. We share in the phenomenal story of a god-man and must begin to unfold in this rising storyline.

NOTE: for the whole posting, go to this link - you will be glad you did - and thanks, Dan, for your ok: http://theophiliacs.com/

L. Gregory Jones, Dean of the Divinity School at Duke University, says that until the time comes when the Church in America gets real – owns and embraces its doubts and freely willing opens the door of serious intellectual inquiry – then the atheists and agnostics will continue to win the day. He asks: How have we Christians so eviscerated the story of the Triune God in practice and intellectual articulation that (contemporary public atheists like Julian Barnes, Richard Dawkins and Christopher Hitchens) can deem it a relic?”

His answer is much like Shoemake's: What would it be like if we Christians in the West became passionately, intellectually and practically committed again to Christian communities (that is local faith communities with flesh and blood people) that were fully rooted in the story of the Triune God and to cultivating vibrant institutions that supported these local communities?

In other words, what would happen if we started with our real and broken lives – our fears and questions – our doubts? What would happen if we clearly understood that the world is much more like “Lost” and “24” than “Gilligan’s Island?” And that, dear people, is why our new mission and vision statement begins with a call to reflection on our Christian faith:

+ We believe that our mind, bodies and heart matter to God.
+ We trust that God is big enough to handle our questions.
+ And we seek to live is such a way that we can support one another in times of need and encourage one another in times of doubt.

For all of us have tasted a love greater than ourselves – glimpsed a light within the darkness – been lifted up and encouraged when you could not make it all by yourself - and so we go on. We’ll gather back in here after worship ends for a time of conversation and more questions - a chance for some dialogue, too - but let’s sing a new affirmation of faith and doubt together as the conclusion to this portion of worship:

Longing for light, we wait in darkness, longing for truth we turn to you
Make us your own, your loving people: light for the world to see
Christ be our light, sing in our hearts, shine in our darkness
Christ be our light: shine in your church gathered today.