The Role of the Church

Do you want to be counted wise, to build a reputation for wisdom? Here's what you do: Live well, live wisely, live humbly. It's the way you live, not the way you talk, that counts. - James 3:13 (The Message)

My Sunday School class is beginning an exploration of Dianna Butler Bass’ new book Grounded. It has sparked my spirit and I can honestly say that I would recommend it for canonization as The Book of Acts of the Apostles Part 2. It speaks to our present time and circumstance and offers examples and wisdom to help the church and Christians be the church and Christians in our post-modern age.

One thing that has really helped me is her image of role of the church in the past. She talks about how we understood life as existing in a three-tiered universe. God was above in a far-off place unreachable and removed from our everyday lives. We exist in the middle living life out in the day-to-day struggles of being human. The third tier is below and a place without life. Within this three-tiered universe the church came to see itself as the elevator operator. Its role was to help folks know the will of God and provide them with the tools necessary so that they could have access to the realm of God after they died. Its role was to serve as the determiner of a person’s worthiness and whether or not you got to heaven or went to hell.

The primary question asked when evil things happened or tragedy struck was “What does God want us to learn from this?” or “What was God’s intention here?” And the church was to provide the guidance and interpretation. People know where God was, God was in heaven and if something untold happened it must be an act of God meant to communicate something to us.

After a century of climate destruction, evil, tragic, violent actions of human on human (World Wars, concentration camps, atomic bombs, genocide, etc) and a host of heartrending situations that reek of evil people have started to ask the question “Where is God?” If you buy into the three-tiered universe model with the church as mediator between God and people you have to come away from this century wondering if God really has just turned away, forgotten us, left us to our own destruction. This is the primary argument of atheists “If God is omniscient, omnipresent, omnipotent, and all loving how can God allow such evil and destruction?” The only answer seems to be either God doesn’t care or there is no God.

An interesting thing about this is that a whole lot of people aren’t questioning the existence of God. Instead they are questioning the way we understand God’s place in the universe. “Where is God?” is being answered and the answer is that God is with us, here in the muck and mire of everyday life. The universe has been flattened. No longer is God out there somewhere. Now God is right here right now. People are experiencing the presence of God all around them and they aren’t willing to give up God but they are willing to give up an institution that preaches about suffering being necessary and the only way to experience God is through correct belief and blind faith. People are willing to see themselves as not needing an elevator to get to God and instead as companions with God. The stick and carrot approach of the church that has been its standard operating procedure now has no relevance because people aren’t focused on getting the elevator ride to heaven. Instead they are focused on improving life in the here and now and see God as a partner and co-worker in the effort.

This makes all the division points in Christianity mute. People are now saying, “Violence is wrong.” “Caring for the environment is caring for God and one another.” “Acceptance of LBGTQ understands that we are all equally valuable and loved.” You see the divisions we have created are all based on the three-tiered universe and that universe is no longer operational for many millions of people. They all have to do with determining who is gets a ride up in the elevator and who rides down. And people have abandoned the elevator for a deep, direct, and intimate relationship with God in the here and now. The funny thing is, this is exactly what Jesus talked about, what Paul envisioned and what mystics have known for thousands of years. It truly is God with us and how that impacts what we do that matters. Correct belief and institutional sanction no longer carry any weight and they should not!

I will end this Musing now. These observations are incomplete because I am still trying to make the shift away from what I have always understood, what I was trained to share and do, how I have seen myself, others and God. We truly are living in the in-between time. What has been no longer works and what will be isn’t fully understood or defined. But what I know is that God is right here with me, with us, in the mix of life and that God is part of the struggle and that God is part of the solution.

Dear God, thank you for renewed spirituality among your children. Thank you for the brave souls who have said to the church this doesn’t work, this isn’t how God is known to me. Help me and the church to listen and find ways to be a part of the new thing that is being birthed. Amen.

  

A Special note:

I am a part of the Host Team for the United Methodist Church’s General Conference which is meeting in Portland in May, 2016. Over 5,000 people are excepted and I am in charge of a team that has responsibilities at the airport, at the 12 hotels and with other areas. What this means is that as this event gets closed my Musings might get sporadic. So this is a heads up to let you know that you may not receive one every week from now until the end of May. After that I should be back on a regular schedule. Pray for me and my team!

Tim O-H