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“What are we willing to sacrifice to stay connected?”
- Priya Parker,
The Art of Gathering: How We Meet and Why it Matters
“Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the
name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.”
- Matthew 28:19
“I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have
loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know
that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”
- John 13:34-35
The quote above from Priya Parker has been circulating in my mind since I first heard it back in May at the worship retreat I attended. It has captivated my attention, I think, because of the ways our culture, the Church (big ‘C’), our congregation, and the lives of families have changed because of the pandemic.
I feel like the disciples in the gospel of John: after the resurrection, after their encounters with Jesus in the locked room (once without Thomas and once with), they aren’t quite sure what to do, so they go back to what they know. They go fishing. Part of the pull of ‘the way things were’ pre-covid is that we knew those things; we knew, at least in some ways, how church was supposed to be, how to manage and negotiate church life. We were comfortable – not without issues and challenges, but comfortable that we could address those familiar challenges. The challenges are less familiar now, or at least sharper and more urgent.
One of the most significant ways we want to get back is the ol’ (and crass) ‘butts in the seats’. The question comes up regularly, “How do we get people to come back to church?” I completely understand the question, and, when I am honest with myself, the question (and my lack of a sure answer) is a source of great anxiety for me.
Then, “what are you willing to sacrifice to stay connected” bounces back to the forefront of my mind. And new questions begin to arise that seem to make more sense in this world and to this congregation both changed by the pandemic. What if “How do we get people back to church?” isn’t the most important question right now? What if the more important questions have to do with how we as a church might support families and individuals in their faith life and development as disciples of Jesus right where they are?
Staring at this future is, at least for me, like standing at the edge of the Grand Canyon – awe inspiring, exciting, and not just a little bit scary. Yet, just as God led the Israelites from Egypt to the promised land through the wilderness I am confident that God will lead us. I am also confident that just as Jesus showed up on the lake shore and invited the disciples to breakfast and reminded them that faith calls them beyond their past, Jesus shows up constantly to point us forward.
Shalom,
Pastor Owen
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