Befuddled
So...we're in Philly and I'm scratchin' my head. I don't feel too far away from Annual Conference (S.IN.) unfortunately. The sign reads -- "Building God's Kingdom One Child at a Time." Here's the two things (or maybe three) that you can't see. One is the beautiful new playground that the sign celebrates. The other thing is that there is a gate -- that is locked - protecting it from the neighborhood. And the third thing is that their are no children playing on this beautiful play set.
This seems so much like what happening with the Church. There is this entire inward looking thing - and there is a real disconnect between that and what people say is "the hospitality" that we Christians would like to say is true of us. Today in walking into downtown Philly early this morning I passed by a Lutheran Church that had set up a sandwich board outside that shouted "Everyone is Welcome" - unfortunately right behind that sign was a very large ornate and clearly locked gate. It just seems not to fit. Or to fit too well.
Perhaps Christianity needs to take a step (or a whole lot of steps) outdoors. Maybe we ought to take our liturgy into the streets. Maybe we ought to listen to the voices of the streets and see what new liturgy might arise. Maybe we would have liturgy then that would never seek to restrict, but would always really welcome. There is so much going on in the lives of people around us -- and in the world around us -- that needs to be shouted from the mountaintops -- rather than held behind closed doors and locked gates. I'm not talking about street preachers calling everyone to repentance -- I'm talking about a host (a heavenly host?) of people filling our streets, listening to the stories of those around us and finding ways to build on the dreams and gifts of those around us. It would be a lot of fun, I think.
posted by Mike Mather at 4:00 PM
4 Comments:
Mike,
Do you remember Dad's story that for the eight plus years he served at one church, he never locked the doors of the church. When we moved, the new pastor began locking the doors in the evening. During that first week of locked doors, someone broke into the church and stole some stuff.
Al, Thanks for telling me about that. I didn't remember it. But it's certainly been my experience in serving urban churches.
I love hospitality. I think it is such a hallmark of a great understanding of the Kingdom. I have to admit, though, that one of the reasons I'm looking forward to going to DC and San Francisco is because I don't really think I understand "Jesus-style hospitality" (hey, wouldn't that make a fun slogan for some hotel in rural Alabama, and it would be gloriously ironic too since John and I probably would not be welcome at all).
"Jesus style Hospitality" comment reminds me of a book I'm reading called "Two for the Road" by Jane and Michael Stern -- they visit odd little known places and eat great food. They are Jewish and from New England and they especially love eating in the south. Lots of the places they love loudly proclaim their love of Jesus. In fact one of the places included this exchange with a waitress, "Which should we get?" we asked "Chicken or ham?" She paused and seemed truly to consider our quandary, then offered this advice, "Do you know what I do when I face a question and don't know the answer?" she said. "I reflect and ask myself, 'What would Jesus do?' Chicken or ham? I don't know. What would Jesus eat?"
Having said that -- yes, church doors are locked in lots more ways than physically. The church allows itself to be robbed when it does that as surely as it invites trouble when it locks the doors. That isn't Jesus being prescriptive. It's descriptive. We know more ways to shoot ourselves in the foot than we have toes and fingers. much love, troy.
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