Going Down?

There was an article in a recent issue of Christian Century magazine that tracked attendance patterns among four large mainline Christian denominations, including the ELCA. (Check out the link on our Facebook page.) As you might guess, the news isn’t good. Since 2001, fewer folks are attending worship...and those who are attending are doing so less frequently. The result is that many congregations...and the denominations of which they are a part...are slowly withering away.

The reasons for this (or at least the opinions as to the reasons for this) are legion and often contradictory: changing social habits, conflicted and drab congregations, a faithless retreat from traditional values and teachings, a stubborn clinging to traditional values and teachings, folks who just attend out of habit, not enough discipline among young people, kids’ sports on Sundays, etc., etc. There’s probably at least a grain of truth in most of these (and the many others unmentioned here). But simply finding something to blame...while it might make us feel good for a moment...doesn’t move us forward.

Grace, of course, is not immune to these challenges...even though we’ve seen modest growth in worship attendance and excellent financial support for our ministries. We should not take for granted that this will last forever. So how can we buck the national trend? Here are a couple thoughts:

First: let’s be honest about the fact that being Christian in American society is not automatic or inevitable. We are a pluralistic culture with a lot of options by which folks can work out their spirituality, and many of those options are not Christian. The person who visits on Sunday morning may not really be looking for church. They may be looking for help or taking the first step in a long search for hope and meaning. How, then, shall we welcome them?

Second: we must remember that the church is not a place; it is a people. Yes, I know that we’ve already heard that (and probably could sing a Bible school song or two about it). But our behaviors and language betray us. We talk about where we go to church, rather than who we are as church. This is not just word play; it’s a huge difference in attitude. For example: I go to Meijer to buy groceries, but sometimes I go to Miller’s. Places (while they may be important) are not as powerful as our identity as a people. Who I am...my identity as a brother in Christ with all of you...is a more powerful, attractive and faithful concept than location. We don’t just go to “the barn church on 51;” we are the barn church on 51.

And finally (for now): since identity is so important, than so too are the relationships we build and the purpose which binds us together. It’s a fact: We are the body of Christ in this place, joined to each other in love and in the greater purpose of living God’s good news for the sake of our neighbors and our world. That’s good news. I’ve never met anyone who didn’t want the gratification of being part of something greater than himself. Human beings are built for purpose and relationship. So how perfect is it that purpose and relationship are precisely what the church is all about? Do you suppose God knew that as He shaped the church?

Well...I’m out of space, and have just scratched the surface. But let’s make this a topic of conversation: How can we more faithfully be the purposeful, relational, and thus attractive community God has called and made us to be? As we begin to answer this question, I’m sure we’ll discover that the church is not “going down.” Instead, we are being called to a continuing reformation...one that enables us to speak the Gospel ever more clearly to the world around us. That sounds pretty exciting.

This is fun...

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MTD: Is It Good Enough for Me?

“MTD” is short-hand for “moral therapeutic deism.” It’s the term adopted by Kenda Creasy Dean, a professor at Princeton and author of the book Almost Christian. She argues that more and more young people in Christian churches are embracing a watered-down, not really Christian faith that doesn’t reject basic Christian beliefs, but doesn’t encourage them either. Instead MTD affirms that “God” created the world and is available to help you feel better when you’re down...but otherwise stays out of the way. God wants us to be nice and happy. The God of MTD says that good people go to heaven. That’s about all there is to it. And while these might be common assumptions about Christianity, they certainly aren’t the rich historic claims of the faith passed down through the ages.

So why are kids embracing this wimpy version of the faith? Maybe it’s because the Church doesn’t take their faith development seriously enough.

Consider: How often do the adults in charge bend over backwards to get the kids to tutors, coaches, practices, and games to make sure that they learn or even excel in everything from algebra to dance to hockey? Yet the name of the game for religion is usually just to “expose” kids to faith...and hope they soak something up. Far from the radical commitments of the first disciples, we often assume that the kids are doing OK if they make a few good friends at youth group, have fun at camp, learn how to be nice, and avoid drugs and premarital sex.

So...what do we do about this? I don’t think we know for sure. Some researchers are seeing a new passion among young people who want a faith that matters in a world that seems so off balance. Others worry about a decline in Christianity in this country that will bring faith practices here to the same low levels seen in Europe for decades. While I’m glad to hear about that new passion, I’m concerned that failing faith is the more likely outcome. Some action seems appropriate.

And a place to start might be with an examination of our own faith as adults. Do we understand for ourselves why the Christian faith makes any real difference in our lives or in the world? We could probably define concepts like “nice” and “good”...but what about “grace” or “discipleship”? Add to this the fact that more and more of us adults grew up outside the Church or on the same watered-down version of the faith. Plus, those who are supposed to be in charge of spiritual formation (clergy-types like me and lay leaders, too), have not always done a very good job of teaching and modeling the faith either.

So...now what?

Call me a cock-eyed optimist, but I truly believe that, at least in our own little corner of the world, we and the Holy Spirit can make a difference. So here’s a deal. I promise that you will hear the Good News of Jesus Christ and that you will have the opportunity to learn and grow in the faith every time you come here on Sunday morning (and Wednesday evening, for that matter). Grace will (continue to) be a place where the faith is clearly and enthusiastically taught and lived for adults and youth and children alike.

For your part: you need to be here...ready to worship and learn and grow...ready to make our shared faith a living priority. I have no doubt that, in so doing, our kids will grow stronger right along with us.

The assumption here, of course, is that the faith of our young people is important to us. I’m going to make that assumption because I have seen in you (talking to the folks at Grace here) an innate desire to give your children the very best you can. And what could be better than a sturdy, working faith in the God who calls and sends each new generation into the world with the Gospel. We can do better; MTD is not good enough. This is an opportunity, brothers and sisters. Let’s seize it.

(Thanks to Jay McDivitt, a pastor at Grace Lutheran Church in Thiensville, WI, for the meat of this article.)

Branded...

We had an interesting conversation at the Suds & Salvation back on June 29…exploring how Christianity “competes” in a world full of all kinds of brands that make all kinds of promises about how to improve (or save) your life.

We live in a branded society. No big surprise there. Over the past 50 years, corporations (both for-profit and non-profit) have shifted their strategic efforts as much or more to the attention of brand identities as to improvements in the actual products and services they sell or provide. In a very real sense, the brand has become the product; we purchase the brand as much as the branded object. Product performance used to be enough; now it’s personality that counts. The brand is the single most important asset of any company, and its management is a primary concern.

By focusing on branding, companies hope to make their logos into a lifestyle, an image, an identity, or a set of values. Brands should, at their best, emote a distinct persona which will be taken on with zeal by consumers. When it works at its best, a brand will colonize the mental space inside each of us. They are meant to win share of mind for a particular proposition, thus influencing the choices we make about our identity. So it is: our relationship to the brands we buy has an influence on who we are as persons.

Christians recognize, however, that there is another brand at work in the world. This brand is one you cannot purchase at any price. It comes to us entirely as a gift. It is traced upon us in anointing oils at Holy Baptism or in times of illness and need. It is retraced in ashes at the beginning of Lent, and marked again on us every Sunday…perhaps even every morning when we rise. This brand…the mark of the cross…comes only as a gift from a loving God. And, like the secular brands that are as omnipresent for us as the air we breathe, it is about a way of life that identifies us…in this case, with the very life of God in Christ Jesus.

Dear sisters and brothers, we are called to think about what we purchase, what we give space to in our lives. So it's reasonable to ask: where and how is the Christ brand visible upon, within and through us?

Dancing with the Stars...

So…who won? I missed the final show and am so out of touch. *sigh*

Actually, I’m not much of a reality TV fan, even though I did see some of American Idol this year (thank you, Crystal) and even several bits of the dancing excitement. That’s probably why it is still in my head as I’m thinking back on this past weekend’s consideration of the Holy Trinity.

Trinity is such an obscure and difficult notion. As a preacher, I struggle with it every year. (The folks at Grace can attest to that.) But there is something simple, elegant and engaging at the very core of all the theological constructions about imminent and economic relationships…something as simple as a peasant dance of joy.

The Greek word often used to describe this mystery is “perichoresis.” It literally means “to dance around.” And by that I don’t mean “to dance around the meaning of the Trinity.” I mean, literally, to join hands and dance in a big circle…kind of like the celebration at the end of “My Big, Fat, Greek Wedding.” Indeed, all the theological consternation and literary back-flips come down to this: God, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, in an extravagance unimagined by the human mind, has invited you to dance…to join hands in love and life and celebration so that the joy which first spilled over into the created order might come shining through in our lives, too.

Here’s reality for you…dancing with the stars and angels and saints in the embrace of the Almighty. In a sense, it’s what we already do each time someone is washed at the font and each time we gather around Christ’s table…each time we lift our hearts in prayer and our hands in praise. We take hold of one another as God’s fellow beloved. And we dance the divine mission into the world for the sake of its reconciliation to One who loved it always and loves it still.

Dear friends, the music plays on. And the Holy One invites: may I have this dance?

Living amidst a culture of death...

Did you know that it's possible to make an apple into a bong? Or that you can cook meth in a 2L bottle? Or that you can buy (on-line) what looks like a Bible, except with the inside hollowed out as a safe place to hide your stash?

Listen. I get that plenty of folks...especially young people...engage in all kinds of dangerous behavior. And I understand that there are lots of creative ways to cover-up what's going on. Believe it or not, I was once young myself...and did plenty of stupid stuff. But with the advent of internet information sharing and social media, the stakes seem to have gotten a lot higher than when I was a kid. All the while, the society in which we live seems to glorify things that aren't just illegal, but things that could kill you. And too many "responsible" folks turn away...just not wanting or just not ready to acknowledge the problems.

This is not a harangue about how terrible things are. This is a plea for change.

Dear young people (and I'm talking chiefly, but not exclusively, to the ones who claim Grace as their spiritual home): don't fall for it. There are better, healthier, more beautiful things to do than risk your life for the thrill of cool or a momentary high.

Dear parents: when was the last time you had a good conversation with your kid in their room...or told them you loved them...or held hands and gave thanks to God over the dinner table? BTW...how's your own moral decision-making? What do you need help with? Are you willing to get it?

Dear community: who says we have to put up with the continuous assault on decency, civility and a good social mores? Sure...no place will be perfect. But it is possible to decide that this will be a community that treasures and encourages the raising of healthy children. And it is possible to be better than we are.

At least for Christians, we need not give into the despair of the age. We know another story...the rising of life out of death. And by the grace of God, we are given each new day to live out that resurrection...a chance to make better choices, to love more deeply those around us, and to respond to the wider world with a message of hope and joy that is the best preventative medicine of all.

Perhaps this is our call...to be life in the midst of a culture of death. Are you ready for that?

Hard to let go...

So...it's January 12, and there is Christmas music playing in my office. Over the past several days, I've re-read Luke 2:1-20 and John 1:1-14 several times. The tree is still up in our house...and until last night, we'd been lighting it at sundown. For some reason, I'm having a hard time this year moving past Christmas.

Before you psycho-analyze too deeply: It's not that I'm overwhelmed by nostalgia or hiding in some happy memories to the avoidance of daily difficulties (although there are plenty of those). No...for some reason, I simply find myself awestruck at the very thought of a God who would obligate himself to his own handiwork, for that indeed is what we are confronted with in the Word Made Flesh. There is no need for God to behave this way. The stunning reality is that God chooses to do this for the sake of love...a love that will not let us go.

Consequently, I find myself unable to let go...stuck at manger-side, next to the shepherds and Mary, the saints and voyeurs of every century...all of whom struggle to comprehend what God is doing...completely taken by this tiny one who is Lord of all. Put on another Christmas CD. Then come, let us adore him still.