The Singing Dead

Back in the day when my seat in the sanctuary was the pulpit chair, I was the first one to hear the music from the choir as it left the choir loft and headed toward the upper confines of the balcony.  I loved being so close to such good music.  I am not sure if the Minister of Music who directed the choir realized I often sang softly along with the choir during their anthems.  If they did, no one ever chastised me.  I simply could not help myself.  

Even though the pulpit chair is no longer available to me, I am still prone to do a one man sing along either with the choir, or during a piano or organ prelude.  Since I usually sit on the first or second row, I figure soft singing will not bother anyone and so far no one in authority, or who sits beside me has told me to hush!  I indulged myself this past Sunday morning when the pianist was playing an old gospel hymn during the offertory. I had not heard "At the Cross" in such a long time.  "At the cross, at the cross, where I first saw the light, and the burden of my heart rolled away.  It was there by faith I received my sight, and now I am happy all the day."  Maybe it sounds like a little sappy to some, but for me it was like fresh cool water being poured over my soul.   

John Wesley encouraged those who worship the Methodist way to sing.  The preface in the Methodist Hymnal has his seven directions for singing.  Number 4 is "Sing lustily and with good courage.  Beware of singing, as if you were half dead, or half asleep, but lift up your voice with strength."  I love to sing.  I wish I could do it better.  I wish we did more singing in our church and I wish, too, that it did not sometimes sound like the singing dead, singing.

Give the Best

When I was going through a dark and difficult time, I ceased attending worship at the church I normally attended and went instead to the local Episcopal Church.  What I needed was to be immersed in a service of worship that was more liturgical than what I could find in my Methodist community.  The liturgy included such things such as prayers of confession, words that spoke of a faith as ancient as Abraham,  acts of worship that had served the church and its people for centuries, and the Sacrament.   

I felt a need to be connected to the community of faith and immersion in a liturgy that was not trendy, but one rooted in an ancient spiritual heritage.  I have often lamented the lack of liturgical worship in my own denomination.  Some folks think any prayer read from a book of worship lacks the power of a spontaneous prayer.  A prayer which used to be prayed often in Communion services enables the gathered people to pray, "Almighty God, Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, maker of all things, judge of all people: We acknowledge and bewail our manifold sins and wickedness, which we from time to time most grievously have committed, by thought, word, and deed, against thy divine majesty..."  

I continue to believe that many our contemporary worshipers would find meaning and spiritual power in such words. Unfortunately, the opportunity is seldom afforded them.  The church has become too conscious of the twelve o'clock hour to risk running past it with the benediction still not pronounced.  Worship is not something to be choreographed as it is in many places.  When such happens, our hurrying society may seem pleased, but so much is being missed.  Worship is about offering our best to God which is something many worship leaders seem to overlook in favor of entertainment.  

A Bone to Pick

There are a few bones I am always ready to pick with the church that ordained me, but its open Table is not one of them.  In fact, whenever I come to the moment of Holy Communion, I am grateful for a Table where everyone is welcome.  As I received the Sacrament today and watched others go to the altar, kneel, and receive this means of grace, my heart was filled with gratitude.  One of the hardest things to understand is how some can deny the Sacrament to some and still say they welcome everyone.  

When we read the gospel story of Jesus sharing the meal with the disciples, there is the admonition to "Do this in remembrance of Me." (Luke 22:19).  There were no conditions and requirements spoken on that night.  It saddens me that in some churches, people are excluded.  In many churches of our day, there is a  theology of communion that is much like the " Jesus plus theology" which Paul condemned in the church of Galatia.  When children are excluded because they are not old enough, or when someone is denied the Sacrament until Confirmation, or when membership in a certain church becomes a requirement, it is questionable if the Table from which the Holy Meal is served is really the Lord's Table.  

In the day of Jesus, there were hundreds of rules and regulations in addition to the Ten Commandments which were imposed upon the people.  There were the Commandments given by God and then there were the religious rules created by the religious authorities.  Much the same has happened today in the church.  So many of the things the church declares to be requirements have nothing to do with what the Scripture says; instead, it is the rulings of some church body.  No one should be denied the means of grace offered to them through the Sacrament, but there are still some among us who say otherwise.

The Plan

The plan to advance the gospel is older than the gospels.  It goes back to the time of Jesus.  It did not require an advertising campaign.  There was no upper level hierarchy to fashion a program to be implemented at the local level.  It was a program which required no funding.  It was simple and nothing about it smacked of the complex.  The gospel writer Luke tells us about it.  "Then Jesus called the twelve together...and sent them out to proclaim the Kingdom of God and to heal."  (Luke 9:1-2).   

Mark adds that Jesus sent them out two by two (Mark 6:7). There is also a record of their return after finishing the mission.  "On their return, the apostles told Jesus all they had done."  (Luke 9:10).  There is a word here we often miss.  Jesus is interested in what we do in His name.  He is interested in what we do to advance the Kingdom.  It is not just the Apostles who have been called to go out in service, but each one of us who accepted the calling Christ has placed on our life.  

It is not just about what Jesus would do, but about what each one of us is willing to do in His name.  Everywhere we go, we go in His name.  Everywhere we go there is an opportunity to advance the Kingdom.  Everywhere we go there is an opportunity to express the love of Christ, to model the love which has transformed our life, and moments for offering acts of healing and compassion.  The plan of Jesus to change the world includes each one of us.  We are a part of what God is doing in the world and there is much to do.

It Takes a Lifetime

It takes a life time of living to get where we are.  This is true whether we are young or old.  It is the many experiences of life that bring us to the place we have arrived.  We may have arrived where we are with some bruises and scars and, perhaps, a few blemishes, but from each moment there has been a lesson taught and hopefully learned.  Life is never about arriving, but going.  It is never about the destination, but the journey.  

The Biblical patriarch, Abraham, is really the prototype for the journey God calls us to embrace.  The Abraham narrative makes it clear that Abraham was called to a journey with no destination.  The question he faced was not about choosing a place God wanted him to go, or a task God wanted him to accomplish, but choosing to go with God into the land of "know not where."  This is the context of the original summons on our lives as we choose the way of obedience to the One who brought us into being.  When we respond to that call, it might seem to us the way forward is clear and it may be for a time, but never should it surprise us when obedience takes us down a road not seen in the beginning.  

Perhaps, it is our moments of faithful going that God gives us experiences that will enable us to move into places, situations, and relationships not seen in the beginning.  The experiences which become a part of our journey can be a part of the equipping He does as He readies us for the more that is before us.  Whether the road brings us to joy or sorrow, He can as His Word declares use all things to bring about good, or to bring us into the new which He had planned for us from the beginning.

A New Word

Looking for something to read, I pulled from the shelf a book with the strange title, "The Soul's Slow Ripening"  by Christine Valters Paintner.  In the introduction she wrote about visiting some of the sacred Celtic shrines and ruins in Ireland.  She also introduced me to a new word and a concept for which I had searched in my own trips to some of the sacred places of my past.  It actually came in a quote she used from John O' Donohue who wrote, "ruins are not empty.  They are sacred places full of presence...The life and passion of a person leaves an imprint on the ether of a place."  

By definition "ether" refers to the invisible, spiritual domain which connects the four physical elements of wind, water, earth and fire.  "Ether" is that word which speaks to why some physical places seems so full of the spiritual.  It is something I have sensed in years of standing to preach in a pulpit filled with the shadows of preachers of other generations. It is the overwhelming awareness of God's presence when I return to places where His mighty works are remembered.  "Ether" refers to the holy places of our past which call us to take off our shoes before walking once again the holy ground.  

While I am more firmly convinced than ever that all the Creation is holy because it bears the imprint of the Holy Creator, it also seems true that entering into some places is like becoming immersed in an invisible spiritual air that is seen and experienced by some, but not by all.  It brings to mind the often quoted lines of a poem learned in high school literature class, "Earth's crammed with heaven, and every common bush afire with God, but only he who sees takes off his shoes, the rest sit round and pick blackberries."  The Creation is holy, but they are places made special because of the way they are for us filled with "ether."

The Small Church

I recently read a report that the mega church had grown and the small church had declined in these post pandemic years.  I was surprised.  I remember a quiet personal prediction that that the small church would begin to grow again.  It appears that I was wrong which is not the first time.  My experience with the mega church is slim.  I have been the pastor of  some small congregations, have watched them suffer through decades of decline, and was hopeful that the post pandemic years would bring about a re-emergence.  

The small church has suffered as rural communities have watched its young rush toward higher paying jobs in urban areas.  This has resulted in the disappearance of the family farm, the loss of inter-generational communities, and small churches counting funerals instead of new members.  Though I never served a large mega church, I did pastor a few larger congregations before retirement came.  The larger church can offer whatever money can buy, but the small church provides things money could never buy.  

Community is the most obvious.  The small church is filled with people who have lived with one another through thick and thin, from birth to death, and whose definition of family is not just biological.  It is the village which rears all the children.  Most of all it is a community grounded in a faith in God which will not quit.  It is a breeding ground for sinners who are beginning to look like the saints we are all called to be.  Anyone who wonders if there is more to church than being just a spectator on Sunday morning should visit a nearby small church.  It is a place where people know your name and will share your joys and woes.  It is also a place where the pastor is more knowable than the face seen from a distance on the big screen.