Day Three: Pharisees and Sleepers
Woke up to rain. Rain in San Antonio. Isn’t it supposed to be dry as a desert? No, apparently not. It rains in San Antonio in May. And I didn’t bring an umbrella. Or rain coat. Or poncho, or goofy hat. So, I could either wait it out and miss the opening worship and lecture, or get wet. It was Brian McLaren preaching and then lecturing. Brian McLaren has written more about how the church needs to change in the current century, about the revival of evangelism that makes a difference in the lives of those we seek to invite into the body of Christ, about a faith that honors those who are different the way Christ honored those who are different, about worship that is vital and preaching that matters. Brian McLaren was preaching and teaching. I got wet.
The opening worship was titled “A Service for Organizing Spirituality” and the sermon was “Why People Hate Organized Religion.” He began with a blessing, no, an absolution. It’s not your fault, he told us clergy as we sat in that theatre and listened to his litany of what has happened to the church we love and serve. He took a passage from Luke, chapter 11 verses 37 through 44. Jesus is telling the Pharisees what has gone wrong with their thinking. But when McLaren read it, he took out the word Pharisee and substituted Leader of Organized Religion. “You leaders of organized religion clean the outside of the cup, but inside you are greed and wickedness. Woe to you leaders of organized religion, you tithe mint and rue and herbs of all kinds but you neglect justice and the love of God....” Whew, hard to hear. But it is bigger than any of us. Bigger than all of us.
Why do people hate organized religion? Maybe, McLaren argued, it is not that we shouldn’t be organized, but it is that we are organized around the wrong things. Wrong things? We are obsessed with trivialities, arguing over sanctuary furniture or instrumentation or service times, and not the things that really matter. We are driven by greed and by money, bowing to the will of those who give the most who seem to believe they should determine what the programs, the mission of the church ought to be. We are obsessed with popularity, with numbers and ratings, desperate to be liked. Jesus compared this way of thinking with a graveyard. We might look good on the surface, but there death underneath.
The solution, however, is not for organized religion to become unorganized, but to organize for different things. What are those things? The things Jesus calls for, justice and the love of God. But then the question arises: How will we do this? McLaren says that will only become clear when we decide to do something.
A powerful ending to the sermon, which was luckily followed up by a lecture on just this issue. He began with a poem by Mary Oliver titled “When you finally did what you had to do.” The lecture was essentially a “just do it” message. It’s about deciding that there is more to do than maintaining the institution. But also recognizing that institutions serve a purpose and are necessary for the community. But they can’t become ends in themselves. Which is why movements help keep institutions honest. Keep them on mission.
Part of that mission is what Bishop Yvette Flunder called Radical Inclusivity. Asking us if we are really ready to see all of God’s children as worthy of inclusion or not. Asking how we can undo the tools of shame and fear, that celebrates diversity not just puts up with it. But, she also warns, it is hard work. Worth it, but hard. Being the church we are called to be is always hard work.
And it begins, says Father Michael Renninger, by paying attention. His sermon was titled Awakened Savior, Awakening Church, from the story of Jesus sleeping in the boat during the storm. Don’t you care, they asked him, when they found him sleeping. Well, says Fr. Renninger, the Lord is asking us that same question now. When there are so many storms in our world and we are seemingly sleeping in the boat. Don’t we care that so many are abused, neglected, refugees and trafficked? We may not be able to still every storm, Fr. Renninger, but we certainly need to pay attention to something.
A good day. A heavy day. But also one that offers hope. A wake up call to the church. To each of us in the church. Each of us as the church. But nothing will change by each of us. It will take all of us.
Together.
Shalom,
Derek
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