Go out into the world...

In the Body of Christ there will be members who will be confronted with problems in their lives for which there is no apparent solution. They come to the Body for a word of hope and comfort. What do you say to people when you have no answer for them? What do you offer people when you cannot fix their problem?

The Gospels tell of the woman who had been hemorrhaging for twelve years and could find no earthly relief. She determined to reach out and touch the hem of Jesus’ garment believing that in doing so she would be made well. The result of her faith was her being healed. (Mark 5:24-34) The task of the church is to enable people to reach out and touch Christ. If we believe that we are the Body of Christ, then we believe that Christ is present to us in worship. We do not have to understand how this takes place in order to believe that something vital and healing can take place for the persons who allows themselves to be addressed by Christ in his Body.

Tomorrow I will try to share how that might look in a church.

A central problem for the church in our time is that we have lost sight of the one allegiance which unites us. When you observe the numerous conflicts and divisions that tear at the unity of the church, it becomes clear that our witness has been seriously weakened by the competing loyalties of factions within the church. It is rare to hear someone say in the midst of these battles, “I disagree with you strongly but Jesus is our Lord and we are united in that faith.” Our behavior seems to betray such a faith. In my city there are over four hundred Christian churches. All of these churches claim Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. I cannot imagine any single issue that we could not effect dramatically in our city if we could all agree. Yet we cannot even agree to have the clergy, let alone the members, come together for prayer and discussion of the state of our city.

Most of the time we are engaged in a variety of forms of competition with each other and have forgotten who the real enemy is. Studies are clear that the vast majority of people who leave churches do not leave to join another church but leave church for the secular society around them. Coalter, Mulder and Weeks remind us, “Throughout the twentieth century, we have been preoccupied with combating various forms of Christian belief (heresy) instead of combating visions of life that are not religious at all (idolatry).” They point out that we have so enjoyed the benefits of secularism that we have turned a blind eye to some of its dangers. “The danger of secularism is its capacity to erode the vitality of Christian faith by relativizing and neutralizing Christ’s claim on our individual and collective lives.” (Vital Signs, The Promise of Mainstream Protestantism, Milton J. Coalter, John M. Mulder, Louis B. Weeks, ppl. 126-127, William B. Erdmans Publishing Co., Grand Rapids, Michigan, 1996) Worship which is based on the clear faith that God is present and addressing us from outside ourselves through Christ helps remind us of who our Lord is.

A critical issue with which many people struggle today is the question, “Who is my Lord?” We live in a time of creeping idolatry in which we are asked to give our praise and loyalty to a variety of forces in our world.

One of the things that distinguished the Jews from their surrounding culture when they lived in exile was their practice of the Sabbath. Unlike their counterparts, they stepped aside from the practical aspects of life one day a week to focus on the spiritual and the eternal. In doing so they reminded themselves who and whose they were.

They also were able to view their lives from an alternate perspective from that which attempted to control their lives on the other days of the week. Each time we offer prayer or read Scripture in a public worship service, we invite people to enter into a countercultural world that challenges the way in which our society lives. We remind ourselves that the values that our society offers are not the only values available to us by which to live. We have a choice and in that choice we are also making a choice as to the lords that will direct our lives.

(Continued from Part 1)
Then things got worse. A Scripture was poorly read and the sermon started. The Scripture had been about the time when Jesus had come to the home of Mary and Martha and Martha was upset that Mary would not help with the food preparation but rather sat and listened to Jesus. The preacher assured the congregation that Jesus was surely not criticizing the honorable profession of homemaking and then focused on the fact that Mary sat at Jesus’ feet and listened. He then developed the thesis that listening to the Gospel being proclaimed was a proper role for women but proclaiming that Gospel as a preacher was clearly not.

Terry felt it showed little relation to the Scripture and was little more than the ranting of an insecure ego being imposed upon the congregation. She was about ready to rise and stomp out when she again felt addressed by Christ. “What does the Scripture ask of you Terry?” “Do you know how to listen to me or are you like Martha ‘worried and distracted by many things?’” (Luke 10:38-42) Even as she left the church and resumed her journey down the road, the question was still playing in Terry’s mind. Terry knew that she had been hiding behind her busy life style and that she had some decisions to make. She had been a stranger in the congregation but she had been addressed by the Body of Christ.

Terry had been driving through a town on Sunday morning on her way to a Monday morning business appointment. As she passed through the town, she saw people begin to gather for worship and she decided on the spur of the moment to stop and join them.

Once the service of worship had begun, Terry began to question the wisdom of her spontaneous decision. The opening hymn was one of those nineteenth century hymns that emphasized the “I” far more than it directed the singer’s attention to God and the congregational singing was dreadful. But then it got worse. The preacher was obviously out of step with his denomination on the place of women. Apparently a new woman clergy had recently come to the area and the pastor decided this Sunday was an opportunity to denounce what he saw as apostasy.

Terry was trying to decide whether it was better to make a display of leaving or to just try to slip quietly out of the service when it came time for the offering. “No way,” she thought, “am I going to support this man and his ministry with my money.” But as the ushers came forward a dialogue began to take place in her head, “What is the purpose of your offering? Is it to support a church program or to worship God? Why did you come here? Did you come to find a speaker with whom you agreed or to offer praise to God? Is the praise of God offered in the presence of a pagan of any less value than that offered in the midst of the righteous? Can you trust me to make use of your offering in a way that touches a life or do you only trust that which you control?” By the time the offering plate reached her, Terry was prepared to make her offering.