There have been times when it was easier to be a Christian … at least, a cultural Christian!
Content with church attendance, a sermon that soothed rather than sobered, wanting stability rather than spirituality … and it was mostly good, though not often very deep, or thoughtful …
Many a cultural christian reacted with less than Christian charity when Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. pointed out the evils of segregation.
Cultural Christianity …
In the years after the Depression and WW2 … churches, sprouting up like dandelions, were built in the developing suburbs.
Attendance was so high, churches went to two services, with Sunday School during worship, so Mom and Dad didn’t have to fuss with the kids, especially after a busy week - with Mom in the home enjoying the latest advances in vacuum cleaners, and Dad at the office, enjoying a martini lunch and the latest sporting news.
People went to church in droves.
The crowds are gone now … these days, the megachurches continue to draw crowds, but in reality, the numbers are small.
Megachurches are accounted as such when their attendance is between 2000 and 10,000 … according to these statistics, there are 1,170 megachurches - only 5% of the total number of churches in America - with a combined attendance of only 4 million.
There are “super megachurches” with over 10,000 attendees … there are about 50 of these in the United States … the largest being Lakewood Church in Houston, Texas. Super megachurches make up only .01% of the total number of churches, and combined attendance is about 700,000.
The heyday of church attendance is over in America … people are de-churching themselves … where it will end, how it will end, I have no idea.
All I know is this: now is NOT the time to wring our hands, clutch our pearls, put on sackcloth and ashes … nor is it time to try to recapture the the past - like Lot’s wife, who looked back, and turned into a pillar of salt …
While some call this a “decline” … I call it “transition” … I call it “opportunity” … an opportunity to rejoice in the LORD … because God does not fail, God does not withhold … God creates new avenues, and opens up unexpected doors.
God said to the children of Isael: Do not remember the former things, or consider the things of old. I am about to do a new thing … I will make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert.”
We live in a difficult world … and it’s gotten a whole lot worse this week …
the horror of war …
the bitter fruits of hatred …
endless questions:
Climate change, global warming, refugees.
Religious and civil rights for LGBTQ people, transgender children and their families.
The crisis in our schools and libraries.
The on-going struggles for racial equality and opportunity.
Congress struggling to find its way.
A world teetering on the brink of who-knows-what.
If it isn’t one thing, it’s another …
The world has always been chaotic, ever since Cain killed Abel … and with our present technology, our 24/7 news, TikTok and Instagram, the world is at our doorstep, banging on the door, and what a noise it makes.
So … here we are, this morning … in this magnificent sanctuary … to worship the LORD, to regain our bearings, to make some sense of it all, to find some peace, and the courage to keep on keepin’ on.
There are no better words than Paul’s immortal words to the church in Philippi:
… whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.
I like the imperative here: think about these things!
Take a deep breath, gird up the loins, focus … look here, not there … here’s the stuff of life … here is where the church becomes the church, the church created and consecrated by the love of Christ, here is where become human beings … think about these things.
Did you notice the Bulletin Cover this morning?
A little girl, who just wants to be a little girl … protected by Federal Marshalls … because a whole lot people hated her, hated her color, hated her people.
If you google the story, you will find images of women and men, young and old, spewing hate at little Ruby Bridges … one of the protestors carries a sign: “All we want for Christmas is a clean white school.”
“What were they thinking?”
when they cursed and damned little Ruby Bridges?
When they shouted out their hate, their faces contorted and twisted, their fists shaking at her.
What Church did they attend?
What did their preachers preach?
What were they thinking?
Whatever they were thinking, they were not thinking about Paul’s words to the Philippians … they were not thinking of noble things … they were not rejoicing in the LORD.
Think on these things!
It’s always good to retool and recalculate what it means to walk in the footsteps of the Master … to face the hard realities of life, and still rejoice in LORD … to find our bearings not in the latest “deals from Amazon,” but in the best deal of all: the love of God!
These days, opportunity - the hard questions of life: Who am I? Where am I going? What do I value? What do I want?
Who doesn’t need hard questions now and then?
Who doesn’t need to oil the gears, mend a few rips in the fabric of the soul, put a little polish on the shoes?
If I may venture an illustration, let’s go to JPL and talk to the scientists and engineers about “having to rethink a problem.”
Norm! … how many failures in the beginning of the space program?
How many times did everyone get out the old slide rule?
And those big chalk boards reached with ladders, scribbled with formula after formula after formula - trying to figure it all out, recalculating, going through it all, again and again, detail by detail, number by number, idea by idea, to create a new paradigm - to build a satellite, build a rocket, get something done, make it work, and reach the moon.
Paul’s invitation to the Philippians is an invitation to all of us, get out the old slide rule, to recalculate, refigure, start all over again.
Rejoice in the LORD …
I can find a lot of reasons to grumble and gripe, and if I let myself go, I’m really good at it … but I can take that energy and turn it to something better … I can find a lot of reasons to rejoice … to give thanks … to smell the roses, watch the clouds, give thanks for the people who love me into life … and the great gift of God’s love - morning, noon, and night, in life, in death, in body and soul. When all else is said and done, what all else is gone, God’s love remains.
The grass withers, the flower fades … but the word of our God will stand forever.
Paul adds to the process:
Psalm 106.1-8; Philippians 4.1-9
Be gentle …
The LORD is near …
Don’t worry about anything … but in everything, by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be known to God.
If the folks at JPL can go back to the drawing board and figure it out, well, then - we can do it, too …
Is any of it easy for JPL? I don’t think so … and neither is our journey into faith.
If we want to rise to the challenge of Christ, if we want future generations to thank us for what we’ve done, it’s never easy, but it’s always good … always.
And it’s good to keep the picture of little Ruby Bridges before us … and the faces of the children in Israel and Gaza … the children of the world … all they want: just to be children.
That’s why we’re here: to be the church of Jesus Christ … to heal the hurt, quiet the hate, find the way.
Forever and a day. For time and eternity. Here and now; then and there! Always! dear people … always!
Rejoice in the LORD.
Hallelujah and Amen!
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