So…
What haven’t we
done because we have been too afraid to try? Or thought we didn’t have the
resources? Or were too busy doing much less important things to do the stuff
that really matters?
Churches are
famous for focusing on minutia so that they don’t have to deal with the really
big important stuff. Of course, they would never talk about it that way. They
just worry about the roof or the color of the Advent candles or which way we
should serve communion.
One pastor at a
meeting the other day said that she had spent six years trying to convince the
session to get rid of the purple candles in the Advent wreath, since we no
longer think of Advent as a time of penitence (that is asking for forgiveness
for our sins) but instead as a time of preparation for the comings of baby
Jesus to the manger and the King of Kings and Lord of Lords to earth in his end
of time arrival.
Six years! In
response another pastor pointed out that the rest of the church has gone to
royal blue candles and another pastor suggested red candles since Christmas is
the Holy Spirit’s work and a Pentecost moment.
Cliff Acklam, the
interim pastor at Middletown United, is from Scotland, and he pointed out that
the mother church (Presbyterianism comes from Scotland by-the-way) use four
white candles and a different taller one in the center that is often another
color, red or gold or something, just because it looks good.
Hey it’s all
good.
But I must admit I
thought (being my rather cynical self) why are we worried about Advent candles?
It seems to me
that the church and it’s leaders of all kinds ought to be focused on getting
more people to come and follow Jesus, become disciples and then change the
world for the better.
Let’s make
baskets and buckets and boxes and then get up and go clean flood ravaged house
and preach good news to kids and teens and families and invite everyone to the
table of the Lord?
Why in heavens
name worry about the candles. Worry about people, the people for whom Christ
died, the people Jesus so much wants us to love into wholeness!
But maybe, we haven’t
done that because we have been afraid to try, and possibly to fail.
Like the
disciples. All they needed to do was cast out a demon. Easy peasy!
Remember these
are the folks who got sent out on preaching missions! They were fearless, or so
we suppose.
But remember, these
too are the followers of Jesus. We assume, that unlike us, they are clear about
who they are, what they are to do, and how to do it, and then they are like an
unstoppable machine working to make the kingdom just pop.
Except they
aren’t!
Instead, they are
very much like us, a group that I’m sure Jesus sometimes felt like was a herd
of cats! Rounding them up and setting them on task was near impossible.
We know that the
call to us as disciples is to make more disciples. But we get distracted, off
mission, lost in the weeds, until we get to the point that while the harvest is
huge, there just aren’t enough workers.
Not a lack of
people who love Jesus and want to follow. Just a lack of disciples who want to
do what Jesus wants; to go get more folks just like you!
I said on Thanksgiving
Eve that there is a church in NJ that has decided it needed some new thinking
about fulfilling the “harvesting” call.
It turns out that the fastest growing
demographic in town was seniors. The church had been trying unsuccessfully to
get together a Sunday School and Youth group for years because youth are the
future of the church, but were failing miserably.
So, the new pastor suggested a creative
strategy. Instead of trying to get kids to come to church, maybe they should be
the church that buckled down and got every grandparent to come to church.
A silver church! Crazy, right?
But they began to think it out. What
would they have to do to be attractive to seniors?
Well, perhaps better lighting so
everyone could see, because, you know. And a better sound system so everyone
could hear.
But then it occurred to them they needed
a fun, engaging program, that instead of being all about kids, was all about
senior fun.
Traveling and mission and bible studies
and quilting, and other hobbies, a hiking group, a walking group in the gym,
ideas for food prep for a smaller family or single person. Fellowship events
for grandparents, and even child care for grandparents watching grandkids.
Their first attempt at a harvest of
children wasn’t successful! So change
the harvest plan!!!!
So now, seniors are stuffing (get the
joke) the church full. And guess what? Some children and teens of grandparents
attending worship, so many that they now need to figure out how to do children
and youth program!
The disciples
couldn’t cast out the demon, not because they were bad people, or because they
didn’t understand how, it was, Jesus said because they didn’t have enough
faith! They weren’t putting the Holy Spirit’s power to work. They were caught
in the weeds again, not centered in their faithful commitment to Jesus!
They were like
most church folks, well meaning, but not empowered, and so worried about the
Advent candles, instead of whether everyone who could be in worship was in
worship.
Next Sunday begins
Advent.
Four Sundays and
then Christmas. I think Advent candles are great, don’t get me wrong, but what
I care about even more is about how many people will be in worship those four
Sundays and on Christmas Eve.
I care about how
many people will be able to watch one of our Christmas Eve services in high def
at home or on the road or even in the hospital because we have a better camera
set up and people to run it and money to pay for it!
I care about how
many lives will be touched, and how many people will feel God presence close to
them this Advent, because we the disciples have quit worrying about how to do
the details right and have started getting to the business of harvesting; extending
the Kingdom of God with passion and integrity.
This church is
amazing. We can do this!
So, what haven’t
we done because we have been too afraid to try? Or thought we didn’t have the
resources? Or were too busy doing much less important things to do the stuff
that really matters?
That is the stuff
we need to start doing, right now, in Jesus name. Amen.
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