Sent into a 3D world

 

Osama Shukir Muhammed Amin FRCP(Glasg), CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

              As I did in the Thanksgiving section, I’ll be pulling some questions from my handy chart of 21 questions in this reflection.

Decentralization—Where and how are we sent when we are already dispersed?

              This is a vocation question. We have all kinds of roles, relationships, and responsibilities that we are already present in. Ask yourself, how can I be present in them in ways that point to the Good News? It can really be that simple, ongoing intentional reflection on those three Rs.

 

Demographic Shift— How are we sent differently to the changing demographics in which we live? After all, we’ve been called to all nations since the start, how might we do so effectively?

Communicating and embodying the Gospel in a relevant way across demographic divisions, be they racial, ethnic, generational, or class based, is an awesome task that can’t really be dealt with in the abstract. The best advice I’ve ever heard is: be curious, listen, always remember you’re a guest, and try to come correct. The ELCA describes this as accompaniment; we’re always being sent to walk beside folk, to journey with them.

              As an example of the opposite, a Seminary Professors once told us about the time he was confronted by a decommissioned army tank in the streets of his home town in India. This modified armored behemoth drove through the streets, causing havoc to the inhabitants who were just trying to live their lives. And every now and again the tank would stop, and someone inside would throw English language Christian tracts out of the turret and onto the street. This was not, I repeat not, accompaniment; it was fear and invasion masquerading as mission.

 

Disestablishment—Who have we neglected to go to, in order to impress the powers that be?

My initial thought is the somewhat scandalous example of Pastor Nadia Boltz Weber’s church out in Colorado, who bring turkey sandwiches to strippers on Thanksgiving, so they know they aren’t abandoned, even if they can’t be with their families on thanksgiving because of their job.

That’s definitely not my ministry, but it does strike at the premise of doing God’s work in a disestablished world. The church no longer has to play respectability games, we no longer have to pretend like some people aren’t people, in order to get in good with polite society. If Jesus got in trouble for ministering to sinners and tax collectors, perhaps the church should too!

              Along similar lines, it is worth hearing the critique of the church by those on the “wrong” side of the establishment, that we are “called to make disciples of all nations, but instead we make members.”

On one hand, membership is one of those good order things that is necessary to: keep our tax exempt status and keep us honest in that regard, ensure decisions are made in an above board manner, distinguish us from more consumer oriented churches that function as a religious business (deferring all decisions and work to paid staff), and depending how we understand the term, it can harken back to Paul’s vision of the Church as a human body with many members—eyes, ears, etc.

On the other hand, membership is a vestige of the time of voluntary associations, when society was homogeneous, and everyone was a “joiner.” A whole generation, shaped by the formative power of the Second World War, did everything at the same time: came home from the war, had babies, stayed with a single company their whole lives. Just as they were part of a military unit, they looked for groups to join in their civilian life: Ethnic Organizations, Guilds and Unions, Bowling Leagues and Masonic Lodges, and yes Congregations.

              As a Pastor there is always that tension. In so far as I am equipping folk to: be part of the body of Christ, own their faith, and be more than simply consumers of that faith, membership is part of discipleship. In so far as I’m teaching folk to recreate behaviors from another era, I’m mistaken.

              But discipleship is much more than that, and I hope I make that clear in how I lead the people I’ve been called to. We gather in community around word and sacraments. We’re cultivating hearts of forgiveness, thanksgiving, and generosity. We’re proclaiming and serving, working for justice and peace, becoming more fully our baptized selves!