"The church often bears an uncomfortable resemblance to the dysfunctional family. There is the authoritarian presence of the minister - the professional who knows all of the answers and calls most of the shots - whom few ever challenge either because they don't dare to or because they feel it would do no good if they did. There is the outward camaraderie and inward loneliness of the congregation. There are the unspoken rules and hidden agendas, the doubts and disagreements that for propriety's sake are kept more or less under cover. There are people with all sorts of enthusiasms and creativities which are not often enough made use of or even recognized because the tendency is not to rock the boat but to keep on doing things the way they have always been done." - Frederick Buechner (Listening to Your Life)
Too true too much of the time don't you think? And so many of our enthusiasms, passions, gifts, and creativities are never given room to breathe for the service of the Kingdom of God simply because we are rather ignominiously conditioned to wait for a person in the clergy-rank to tell us exactly what it is we ought to be doing. And if we are ever issued an invitation to participate in the ministries of the church - all too often it means forcing our gifts & talents & creativities into awkward & often times anachronistic programs that don't give room for the whole expression of the vitality of those very gifts. Like asking
Paul Farmer, because he's good with helping people, to become an usher for the 10AM worship service. Or inviting Flannery O'Connor (it's her birthday today) to type up the church bulletin.
Perhaps I am painting in overly broad brushstrokes?
Certainly it is rather facile to be a critic. Critics in our culture are a dime a dozen & generally lack any semblance of constructive creativity. Buechner, a hero of mine, is leveling a critique that perhaps was insurmountable during much of his era - an era that doused its faith in denominational methodology & institutional bureaucracy. Denominations certainly had their time & place in the historical landscape of Christendom - and they will continue to exist albeit against a massive swell of ignorant bliss of future generations of Jesus followers. Yes, denominations were wonderfully meaningful once upon a time to individuals, families, and communities (and in certain sectors - still are). They often contributed outside of the needs of church buildings and into the lives of people who had genuine needs. But today and over the next decade, and with ever-increading rapidity, denominational methodology will be greatly diminished in its influence in achieving just about any kind significant commonality with a culture thoroughly disenchanted with banal allegiance to any form of institutional religious expression. Try asking most sub-40 people on the street (or in just about any church today for that matter) what the differences are between Lutherans & Episcopalians or Presbyterians & Baptists & you'l likely fetch blank stares & an occasional "who cares?" retort.
Look - please understand. My generation was raised on the hermeneutic of suspicion. We grew up in the 80's & the war movies we were given were Viet Nam movies - not WWII movies. At 14,
Platoon was my first significant war movie - no John Wayne for me. I was almost a year old when Watergate went down. And before that 1968 was seared into the deep conscious of the U.S. - the Tet Offensive, the assassinations of both MLK & JFK & the death of Thomas Merton. And since then? Nothing but the undying confirmation of suspicion - not only domestically but abroad. If it's not Viet Nam or Enron then its Rwanda & AIG execs; or Darfur or Northern Uganda or somewhere in Sri Lanka or a school in Chechnya or suicide bombers in the Middle East. Ask much of the sub-40 crowd if 9/11 really surprised them. And compare notes when asking the same question to the post-55 crowd.
Of course in relation to church expressions in the U.S. today - the trick is moving beyond critique & into the land of the hermeneutic of generosity. And this is decidely accomplished by change agents. While critics are a dime a dozen - change agents are the diamonds in the rough. And there are significant sectors of deeply committed followers of Jesus who are now just beginning to surface into active participation in the Body of Christ without receiving blessing from any denominational royalty. Church to them is no longer a building where one may go once a week to attend a religious service - rather church has become a lifestyle of collectively living into the movement of shalom & gospel in local & global contexts. They are viewing the church not as non-profit religious hierarchy but as a communal way of living into deep friendship & mutuality - transforming faith being its backbone & love toward friend, stranger, & even enemy being its very breath.
And there are all kinds of people of all forms & vocations who are beginning to freely pursue the latent power of active participation in the Body of Christ. It is not just the theory of the priesthood of all believers it is the enactment of that wonderful Reformation-era re-discovery. It has just taken westerners a few hundred years to once again test the waters of this foundational reality of deep church living.
I do believe that we are beginning to see a renaissance take place across North America of renewed vigor for the radical decentralization of the Body of Christ. The invitation seems to be going everywhere. The time is upon each one of us to begin to pray & decidedly live into the shalom/gospel nature of the gifts & passions God has freely given to all of us. Indeed muster up the courage & ask the Holy Spirit to lead you & your fellow church mates into new & vibrant expressions of your gifts for the sake of the Kingdom of God in the unique contexts you find yourselves in. But as the Holy Spirit will most certainly lead you - the larger question will become; will you & I have the courage to consistently respond with open hands; especially when we are being led to places beyond the borders ofconventional safety?
