We are just coming up on Holy Week, and for the entire season of Lent, and even before that, going back into Advent, we have been following the original "GPS system" whose name was Jesus. He "showed us the way" to God. He was the living, breathing GOOD NEWS! His life was all about asking God WHERE TO? He demonstrated that you don't have to struggle to know how to get to God. He showed us by the way he lived, acted, prayed, taught, loved and listened, that we have an inner GPS system already in place. God's Perfect Supply is constantly at our disposal. But we have to activate it, and we activate it through prayer and listening to God. We go to God asking WHERE TO? and then God provides the prompt: VIEW MAP. God says: This is the direction I want to take you. You are here at point A and if you follow this exactly as I prompt you to do, you will get to point B. The beautiful thing about GPS is that even if you mess up and take a wrong exit or make a wrong turn, it gets busy re-calculating and then directs you again from where you are. You can be a little lost and never really be lost! It doesn't ever let you get so lost that you can't find your way back. I love the image of the GPS, not only for our own individual lives, but for the collective heart of the church approaching the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus.
As many of us take a seat in a pew to witness what happened to Jesus, to identify with where his GPS system led him, the entire church, the body of Christ, must tune in to its own GPS promptings. Many of us are going to notice the age of who is in our pews, that there may be less and less people in our church pews, and especially less younger people in our pews. The question the people in our churches need to ask of our GPS system is WHERE TO? We are "punching in" the same address, the same place to be, and expecting a different destination to "pop up" on the screen, but instead we are constantly driving the same path, the same way, and wondering why we are ending up in the same spot. The route we take is familiar, comfortable, easy to follow, no surprises, less chance of detours, predictable, and you can literally drive it "in your sleep". You know the saying The car could drive itself... it knows the way! If you attend a church service over holy week and wonder where the rest of the "drivers" are, this is why. We are being driven by a path we are so comfortable with, we don't dare try a new path to a new destination. We are being driven by traditions, doctrines, dogmas, music, apathy, irrelevancy, ego, pride, invalid beliefs, and ritual empty of meaning, and lack of just about everything from: people to creativity to money, to energy, to time, to mission and purpose. We have been lulled to sleep at the wheel by tuning in to the same station on our religious radio playing from top ten tunes like: We've Always Done it This Way, We've Tried That and it Didn't Work, We Could Never Raise the Money or Find the People to Do That, There Just Isn't Enough Interested People, I Might Look Like a Fool, We Can't Possibly Do That With the Few Children We Do Have, and an oldie, but goodie, We Might Fail, Then What?
In light of Holy Week, I can't imagine Jesus asleep at the wheel. I am so thankful he tried something different with his life so that we might have a chance to live differently too. I'm so thankful he didn't care if he looked like a fool, that he turned over the money tables in the temple, that he wasn't willing to settle for doing things the way they've always been done, and that he kept trying and trying again until people realized that he was going to change the way the Sabbath worked, looked, and felt. I'm so glad that he didn't wait for people to get interested in forgiveness so that he could heal them, show them mercy and kindness, and love them. Thank God he put energy into loving children, allowing them to come to him... one child at a time. He was never put off by their noise, their curiosity, the messiness, or the "energy" it took to make them feel loved and wanted. Thank God he could see that building the future kingdom begins with loving, welcoming, teaching, and protecting our children. Jesus was once a child himself, who needed to be protected, nurtured, taught, inspired, cherished, prayed for, and baptized. Where did his mom and dad find him? In the temple. How many of us find our children in a church or temple outside of Sunday School because they absolutely loved it, and just had to be there. Even Jesus couldn't baptize himself!
As a woman and mother, who dearly loves all that religious practices, rituals, and tradition has provided me in the past, I see who is in the pews now, and even more importantly, I see who isn't there. Fear and guilt aren't bringing them to the doors and keeping them once they do arrive. Doctrine, dogma, theology, and tradition, while needed for structure, guidance, and forming the tenets of faith and what we believe, aren't bringing new generations into the doors of our churches either. Not only are we witnessing the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus, our Savior, in the coming two weeks, you are asleep at the wheel, if you don't recognize that we are also witnessing the death of religious institutions as we know them now. Jesus was very radical for his time. What he thought, said, and did, was radically different. Our GPS system is crying out for us to drive a radically different path to a brand new destination. We can drive down the same old path, and still hold out hope to arrive at something different, but unless we are willing to be led down a path that is more relevant to the seekers of inner transformation, we are going to wind up with the same result, the same destination, the same "point B" on the map. If you cling to your life, you will lose it, and if you let your life go, you will save it. Luke 17:33 If you cling to routine thinking, the status quo, lifeless traditions, and invalid beliefs, and make them your God, you will lose it, and if you release what doesn't serve you any longer, you will save what you really need... what you really love, and what you really long for. In the end, You will save Love because Love has saved you.
We are going to have to drive with our eyes wide open, alert to new promptings, and a willingness to see new scenery, stop at different rest stops, gas up at new stations, and dine at different restaurant tables. We are going to have to be willing to feel lost, vulnerable, wondering when we will get "there". We are going to have to rely on our GPS for every last mile until we here those famous words "ARRIVAL AT DESTINATION". Our minds are going to have to think, be involved, and engaged in our travels. We aren't going to be able to go on "automatic pilot". We are going to have to listen to the voice that is prompting us and trust that the signals our GPS systems are receiving are correct and accurate. There will be limits on the speed with which we travel, maybe some new costs to traveling a new route, the risk of accidents, detours, and break-downs. But there will also be new discoveries, new joys, fresh beauty, inspired conversations, and deepened companionship, connection, and friendship along the way. We will learn to trust God like we've never trusted God before! Dependency upon divine power will flourish! Our inner world will become stronger than the circumstances of our outer world. Our imaginations and the use of our creativity will be the source of the miracles that we need because we will recognize that God creates what we need through the intentions of our minds and hearts. Gratitude and love for what God will do through us will be the cornerstone of the church's future instead of money, numbers, and the past.
Jesus died for love, community, connection, service, and mission. He did not die for a certain type of music, a certain time to have a worship service, a certain amount of money to be spent, or traditional or contemporary services. He died for love's sake. He came to serve, not to be served. If you walk into a church in the next two weeks, walk in to serve, not to be served. Walk in to love people, not to love traditions, that are no longer serving a purpose or make sense. Walk in those doors to build community, not to build walls up to keep people out that don't look like you, think like you, pray like you, sing like you, or believe like you. Too many people are walking into church and they don't love it. They don't love what they hear there, what they do there, what they see there, or what they don't see there. But we are all too afraid to say that we don't love it. People go where they feel loved and they want to do something, be a part of something they love. People aren't coming to church because they don't love what is there, what it offers, and what they feel when they are there. Traditions, routines, habits, and the past are put ahead of loving people and being faithful to the gospel message. People leave what they don't love - just look at the number of divorces, the number of suicides, excellent teachers who leave their profession, and so on. Look at the number of people who don't go to church. Even the new pope isn't wearing the traditional red Prada shoes. Even he has set aside the tradition of saying Holy Thursday mass at the Vatican and is planning on saying mass at a juvenile detention center.
Where do we start? What "address" do we punch in on our GPS? Just what is our destination? Our "point B"? Until we can name what we don't love about our churches with brutal, radical honesty, openness, and non-judgment , we can't begin to put in an "address". We are going to have to grieve, give thanks for the past and what it was, what it gave us, and how it grew us and nourished us, and then we have to look toward the future. We are going to have to ask ourselves what purpose religion and attending church serve in this day and age? And we are going to have to come to grips with the fact that we are going to have to make changes, some little and some quite radical. We are going to have to stop sweating the small stuff. Business as usual isn't going to cut it anymore. We are going to need to listen to the prophets of the 21st century, the ideas, thoughts, and creativity of the younger generations, and the voices that we have tried to drown out with our excuses. We are going to have to support clergy like we've never supported them before. We are going to have to work like we've never worked before. We will have to go the extra mile. And we are going to have to trust like we've never trusted before. Churches will either evolve or die. The statistics are out there, and unless we turn to Jesus, and his willingness to be and do something different, in order to see something different in a hurting world....something based on love instead of fear, our future as church as it is, will die out. If there is one thing Holy Week is about, it is about dying so that we might live. Nothing can be resurrected until it is willing to die to what was, in order that it might come fully into the resurrection of its highest potential. Unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it produces much fruit. John 12: 24-25. We are going to find ourselves alone in our beloved churches if we do not allow certain patterns of thinking and believing to fall to the ground and die. If anything, the address we have to punch in on our GPS system is "death". There are some things we do as church that just might have to die so that new life can come through. As hard as it might be, this is our "point A"...... Our "point B" is resurrection.
Just today, Olivia begged me to get out my wedding dress. She has spent the better part of today planning her future "wedding" and I wondered if it would be held in a church. She drew a picture of her dress and the bridesmaid dresses, planned the food, the dance floor, and the dessert - banana splits for everyone! I finally went into the closet and dug out my dress. I didn't have it preserved in a box, and after today, I'm glad I didn't. We got it out, hung it up by its hanger, on the edge of the doorway, and she loved touching it, feeling the beading, and playing with the train. This afternoon, she asked me to try it on. THAT.....was painful. Three kids after the age of 35 does not make for a perfect fit. But I did manage to squeeze into it.....barely, half-way zipped. (Boy there's inspiration to get back to the gym). We stood back and admired the dress. I remembered how I felt in it and all the beautiful memories I have of that day! This dress, although beautiful, no longer serves the purpose it once did. Now it is something to be admired, a visible, tangible part of a very special tradition that changed my life over 13 years ago. It no longer "fits" me. As beautiful as it is, it is no longer changing my life for the better. I have changed. My body has changed. I can squeeze into it, but it is uncomfortable, clumsy, and I don't feel the same way as I did 13 years ago in it. Although, I treasure it, it will reside in my closet. Olivia said she wants to wear it someday, but she wants to change it. She wants to take off the sleeves, add a lot more "sparkles" and wear different shoes. As hard as it might be to change it for her, if she loves it and it serves her needs on her wedding day, I will add more "sparkle", remove the sleeves, and alter it so that she feels beautiful and full of love. The dress won't look the same, but it will have been transformed into the perfect dress for Olivia. They say that your outside world reflects what is happening on the inside of you. How appropriate that my wedding dress made an appearance today - it is so symbolic of tradition, the past, growing love, and the need to keep expanding that love into something new. The main part of the dress, the substance of it, will not be changed for Olivia, but if she chooses someday, I will hand it down to her, with my blessing, and she can take it and make it her own. I hope we are not afraid to "hand down", with enthusiastic blessing, the substance of our religious faith to future generations and allow the way we practice our faith to be expanded, made new, and transformed into something that sparkles, something tailored perfectly for future souls, so that future generations will want to wear it, and that when they do wear it, they will feel beautiful and loved in it....so much so that they will have a desire to be wedded to service, mission, and above all, gospel love.
Show us, God, what needs to die in us
so that what longs to live can rise up, serve your purposes, and grow love.
Help us think, reflect, and listen to each other's thoughts. Let us be honest and brave
as we give voice to our fears and our sadness.
Help us grieve. Help us lay to rest everything
that is holding us back.
Help us respect what was, what is, and what will be.
Help us put aside our egos, our pride, and our expectations
and find common ground, a new vision, and a fresh destination.
Please, God, reveal to us your plans for our religious institutions.
Please, God, show us the Way to go, the Truth of our hearts, and the Life
we have to offer one another.
Generously give us direction, guidance, and wisdom.
Make clear to us the path we must follow.
Make clear to us the path we must follow.
Help us die so that we might live. Amen.
Reflect On Your Life
For I am about to do something new. See, I have already begun! Do you not see it?
I will make a pathway through the wilderness. I will create rivers in a dry wasteland.
Isaiah 43: 19
1. What is it that we fear the most about change in our churches?
2. What would you change about church services? How would you improve them?
