Church as Courtroom

The final metaphor I will use to describe my observation of the contemporary American church is "courtroom." It doesn't require much explanation does it?

We sit under our steeples and pronounce judgment on the world outside. "Why can't they be more like us?" "What is wrong with this culture?"

Here's the thing. They aren't called to be Jesus' disciples. We are. We are the salt and light of the world. That means we need to be out in the world, not huddled inside doing the tsk-tsk shame finger thing to those on the outside. God is the only judge.

Church as Shopping Mall

Another good metaphor for today's churches, in my observation, is a shopping mall, geared toward consumers, where we can get everything we might need. Of course, it is easy to criticize the mega-churches for this. But the same is true for smaller churches as well. We're just not as good at it.


Eugene Peterson, in his book The Jesus Way, says:


It didn't take long for some of our Christian brothers and sisters to develop consumer congregations. If we have a nation of consumers, obviously the quickest and most effective way to get them into our congregations is to identify what they want and offer it to them, satisfy their fantasies, promise them the moon, recast the gospel in consumer terms: entertainment, satisfaction, excitement, adventure, problem-solving, whatever. This is the language we Americans grow up on, the language we understand. We are the world's champion consumers, so why shouldn't we have state-of-the-art consumer churches. 

Given the conditions prevailing in our culture, this is the best and most effective way that has ever been devised for gathering large and prosperous congregations. Americans lead the world in showing how to do it. There is only one thing wrong: this is not the way in which God brings us into conformity with the life of Jesus and sets us on the way of Jesus' salvation. This is not the way we become less and Jesus becomes more. This is not the way in which our sacrificed lives become available to others in justice and service. The cultivation of consumer spirituality is the antithesis of a sacrificial, "deny yourself" congregation. A consumer church is an antichrist church. (p. 6, emphasis mine)

Church as Civic Organization

Last post, I wrote about the the opportunity the church has to be a hospital, a greenhouse, and an army. This post I want to explore why churches so often don't operate as such and what, in my observation, churches often are.

It goes without saying that many churches to day have become little more than civic organizations. Actually, civic organization might be too kind a term; social club would be better. There are many civic organizations doing a better job at world-transformation than we are. We seem to have lost a sense of mission. This old, old story says it well:

A Hospital, a Greenhouse, and an Army

Today I was preparing for tomorrow's worship service where we our receiving four new members. I was reminded of something my dad observed a long time ago regarding a church. It's not original, not then and certainly not now. However, the truth of it rings for me now after 25 years of life and work in the church. He told us that a church is a hospital, a greenhouse, and an army.

A church is a hospital for those that find themselves hurting and on our doorstep. It is these that we have the opportunity to receive and to love. It usually isn't easy or romantic because, after all, hurt people really do often hurt people. However, just as the doctor doesn't judge the emergency room patient, we needn't judge the walking wounded that God sends to us.

A church is a greenhouse for those interested in growing in their relationship with God and others. It is here that we learn together, encourage one another, and, ideally, practice our faith in a safe environment.

A church is an army--not, as I used to understand it, as an army to march and convert the world to our way of understanding God, but as an army assembled to march against the darkness of injustice and hopelessness which shadows our world.

I don't see these as a progression, necessarily, moving from A to B to C. I will experience these dimensions of the church many times each. There will be times when I am able to engage and grow, there will be times when my call is clear and my ministry on fire, and there will be times when I need to step back and allow my wounds to be tended.

What do you think about these three experiences of the church? I would love to hear your thoughts.

Tomorrow, I will write about other experiences of the church that keep us from what I see as these three most important experiences.

Real World Spiritual Disciplines #1

This afternoon, the person in front of me in the 10-items-or-less express lane at the grocery store had 14 items. I know that because I counted. And I had a brief flash of righteous indignation that for me rivals the ecstasy of sex or even chocolate.

However, that will be the last time I'll count the items of the people in the express lane. I decided on the drive home that, beginning today, I am going to start practicing the spiritual discipline of not counting express lane items. I am adding it to my rule.

I hope its practice will nudge me to the place where I can experience the transforming power of God in my life. You see, I have a judgmental heart. I think, in many cases, it keeps me from forming deep relationships with others. Does the number of items the person in front of me  has change the way God calls me to relate to him? Not in the least. That anger, that self righteousness that I feel is sin, plain and simple and I need God to rid me of it.

Pray for me in my practice!

Now if I could just stop thumbing through the tabloids.

Lengthen the Cords and Strengthen the Stakes

"Enlarge the site of your tent,
and let the curtains of your habitations be stretched out;
do not hold back; lengthen your cords
and strengthen your stakes." Isaiah 54:2

I'm blowing the dust off my cyber-desk. I came upon this passage a couple of weeks ago. I was blessed by the memory of it. Here is how God speaks to me through it:

God calls us to strengthen the stakes, to deepen our relationship with the Divine. As that occurs, I believe we then have the opportunity to start to lengthen the cords to expand the tent. As I grow in my relationship with God, I grow in my ability to make space for other understandings of God.

It seems this is the opposite of what often happens. Many shrink the tent, excluding those whose view of God does not match their own. And quite often, though not always, the stakes of those tent shrinkers are found to be quite weak.

Oh, to be the community of faith that throws open the curtains, welcomes all, and facilitates the strengthening of the stakes!

Great Prayer

From the Book of Common Prayer, adapted by Phyllis Tickle in The Divine Hours

O God of unchangeable power and eternal light: look favorably on your whole Church, that wonderful and sacred mystery; by the effectual working of your providence, carry out in tranquility the plan of salvation; let the whole world see and know that things which are cast down are being raised up, and things which had grown old are being made new, and that all things are being brought to their perfection by him through whom all things were made, your Son Jesus Christ our Lord; who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.