I've always thought the Church could learn a lot from really listening to the music of our youth and young people. I have come to appreciate the lessons offered even more now that my children are developing their own taste in music. A couple of years ago I came to appreciate the powerful messages contained in songs my the rock group GreenDay when my son got a CD of their music for Christmas. The music may not be to my liking, but the message they convey is not one I am uncomfortable with ....
The medium and the message get blurred, but at the end of the day it's the message that MUST be heard ...
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With that in mind, as I've been reading, reflecting and musing on Diana Butler Bass' book Christianity for the Rest of Us, I find myself humming the song "Subdivisions" by Canadian Rock Band Rush ... it's a song that came out in the 1980's as I was moving through the transition from High School to University ... and much of its message resonated with me at the time.
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Lately as I've been reflecting on the challenges of transition and transformation that is confronting the modern Church, I have found myself hearing the words of the song that follow:
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Growing up it all seems so one-sided
Opinions all provided
The future pre-decided
Detached and subdivided
In the mass production zone
Nowhere is the dreamer
Or the misfit so alone
Subdivisions ---
In the high school halls
In the shopping malls
Conform or be cast out
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CONFORM OR BE CAST OUT !!!!
This has seemingly become an operating principle in the modern Church - or at least the corners of the modern Church that are hesitant, reluctant or downright terrified of living with the changes that are spinning around us.
Butler Bass cites the example of a congregation who lived a faith motivated radical welcoming hospitality by allowing and encouraging the building of a tent city on their front lawn to house homeless individuals from the surrounding community. She notes that all was not easy - members made it clear THAT if the Tent City went ahead THEY would leave ... others said if the Tent City didn't proceed THEY would leave ... often in the Institutional Church (that is the Village Church we've spoken of previously) the response to such ecclesiastical black mail is to cave and maintain the status quo and reject those who advocate change - OR worse - demand that those wanting change instead conform ...
In Butler Bass' example though it was noted that the Congregation did not cave into ecclesiastical black mail (the old - Give me what I want OR I'll stop giving and NOT come back!!) but instead prayerfully and faithfully approached the issue of the Tent City and proceeded BECAUSE it was the right thing to do.
I couldn't help but wonder what would happen in the United Church of Canada under similar circumstances ... but then I know we have the example of The Rev. George Feenstra who did something remarkably similar in BC, only to be dismissed for failing to maintain the peace of the Church ...
Made me say - Hmmmm ...
What does this radical hospitality that Butler Bass writes about really look like?? (see pages 77 to 88 in her book)
How do we not only live that hospitality, but how do we transform those who would insist on conformity as the ONLY response???
The old Rush song speaks of uniformity, which is the very thing that under girds the Village Church ... in such a setting change is NOT embraced, but rather it is actively resisted ... In that moment, when conformity is demanded rather than change embraced - the outcome is not growth ...
Countless times I've encountered Congregations that say proudly - "we're a warm and welcoming place ..." only to stumble over folks who have never felt that purported welcome or warmth. In some cases it has been people who have been "there" for years and years and years, and still feel very much an outsider.
The congregation is happy to take their time, energy and money, but it remains a cliquey place where inclusion is based on relationships (familial, political, and economic), on worldview, on social class, on employment background, or common history, to name just a few. Those who are not "like us" are never fully integrated into the congregation and remain outsiders.
In the 80's a number of studies challenged the Mainline Denominations to take this issue seriously, yet when the clergy offers the observation that the congregation could do better in living out its welcome the response is often swift, negative and devastating ... Belling that cat can cost ministers their positions!!
Yet, it remains a crucial piece in the survival and more importantly the transformation of the Church. Living our welcome not only welcomes in the stranger's money - it is about integrating the stranger and transforming the community in the process. When a TWENTY year attendee says "I still don't feel part of the community" - they not only need to be heard - they DESERVE to be heard.
We can not set limits, either covert or overt when it comes to our hospitality. Our calling as people of faith is to welcome ALL people, not just some ... ALL!!! Failure to welcome in all of God's children and to open ourselves, our lives and our communities to the potential transformation this can represent is to simply cave into the ecclesiastical blackmail that insists the status quo MUST be maintained at ALL costs!!
Fortunately though, the dreamers, the misfits and the prophets are NOT alone ... they stand on the margins, or just beyond the comfortable doors of our sanctuaries and remind us that the word "welcome" can not have conditions if we are to be people of the Cross.
The Spirit will NOT be black mailed nor held hostage !!!!
Unlike the sign above which clearly puts an asterisk after "welcome" that delineates the limits for those who might be seeking more - our welcome sign as followers of Christ can have no limits, for we are here to offer the gift of God's Grace. A gift that has NO conditions and NO limits and NO boundaries.
We need to stop being gatekeepers trying in vain to protect something that is not ours to protect in the first place, and we should start tearing down the fences and walls that we ourselves have created ... we need to let God's gift of Grace simply pour forth ... and it begins by tearing down the walls that exist within us ...
We need to begin by doing as Butler Bass notes - "Christian people, themselves wayfarers, welcome strangers into the heart of God's transformative love !!"
In the seeker Church ALL are welcome with open arms - ESPECIALLY those with open hearts and MINDS !!!!!
Come Holy Spirit Come !!!!
Thanks be to God !!
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