In the beginning, there was Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ and twelve guys he picked up along the way. There were four fishermen--Peter and Andrew, James and John. A tax collector named Matthew. And seven others--James, Simon, Bartholomew, Philip Thaddeus, Thomas, and Judas. In the beginning that was it--Jesus Christ and twelve ordinary folks who possessed some of the strength and much of the weakness of being human.
Jesus taught them to love God and their neighbor. He sent them into the world to preach and heal, raise up and redeem. He told them that serving others is the most exalted task in God's Kingdom, and dying for one's friends the greatest act of love.
Yes, these guys misunderstood much of what Jesus said. They argued amongst themselves, and they competed for Jesus' attention and praise. One of them betrayed Jesus for money. The rest vanished when the authorities arrested and crucified him.
But in time, when things settled down a bit, they regrouped in Jerusalem. There, they encountered the resurrected Christ. The Holy Spirit descended upon them, set their hearts on fire, and ordained them as the church. With new friends who joined them, they lifted up their voices and prayed: "O God, grant to they servants to speak thy word with boldness." And so they did.
The Christian church. In the beginning, no more than a simple gathering of a few people with Jesus Christ. As the writer, Frederick Buechner, reminds us:
The church buildings and budgets came later. The forms of church government, the priests and pastors, Baptists and Protestants. The Sunday services with everybody in their best clothes, the Sunday Schools and choirs all came later. So did Bible study groups and rummage sales. So did the preachers....They all came later. Maybe the best thing that could happen to the church would be for some great tidal wave of history to wash all that away--the church buildings tumbling, the church money all lost, the church bulletins blowing through the air like dead leaves, the difference between preachers and congregations all lost too. Then all we would have left would be each other and Christ, which is all there was in the first place.
Each other and Christ. A simple gathering of people, which is all there was in the first place. Back to basics.
Our two lessons today deal with crises of religious faith. Both address people who have lost touch with the basics of their faith, thereby distorting it beyond recognition.
The prophet Micah proclaims God's judgment on the court prophets. Simply put, the court prophets have climbed into bed with the king and his court, and they have become very cozy. The people whose task it is to speak God's word with boldness are seduced, bought of, and co-opted by the privileges offered to them by the rich and powerful. No matter how violent and unjust the ruling class becomes, no matter how badly the elite treat the working class and the poor, the court prophets do not utter a word of judgment against them. After all, they don't want to bite the hand that feeds them. In fact, just the opposite--they provide the religious cover and justification the elite class needs to continue enjoying its dominant position. They condone, sanctify, consecrate, and bless everything the king and his cronies do, as long it enables the court prophets to remain nice and cozy in the king's bed.
Unlike the phony court prophets, Micah is an authentic prophet. He proclaims God's word with boldness. He speaks truth to power, regardless of the consequences. He directs some of his harshest words of judgment against the court prophets, for they have lost touch with the basics of their religious faith. Micah reminds them: to seek justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly with God.
Matthew's passage judges the scribes and Pharisees. They too have been seduced, bought off, and co-opted, not by power and privilege, but by their own egos. Jesus accuses them of using religion as a vehicle for self-glorification, for ego-gratification.
When religion is used for ego-gratification, religion isn't about loving God and loving my neighbor, it's about loving myself with all my heart, mind, soul, and strength. It's all about me! I want to be noticed. I want to sit in the places of honor. I want the honorific titles: Rabbi, Father, Reverend, Most Reverend, Most Holy and Right Reverend. I want people to serve me, kiss my ring, melt with amazement at my great wisdom, awe over my astonishing piety and humility. Jesus directs some of his harshest words of judgment against the people seeking self-glorification and ego-gratification through religion because they have lost touch with the basics of their faith.
And what are the basics? Jesus answered that question last week: to love God with all your heart, mind, and strength, and to love your neighbor yourself. This week Jesus adds an addendum: serve others, for serving others is the most exalted activity in God's Kingdom.
I believe the Christian church is, in all times and places, at risk of losing touch with the basics of our Christian faith and discipleship. The church is, in all times and places, at risk of being seduced, bought off, and co-opted by power, by privilege, and by our own egos. But I believe one of the most insidious dangers that churches face, one of the greatest risks churches face, is being seduced, bought off, and co-opted by what I like to call churchianity.
Churchianity. What is churchianity?
Churchianity is what a church suffers when it becomes so distracted and obsessed with trivial and peripheral concerns that it loses touch with the basics of Christian faith and discipleship. Churchianity is what the church suffers when it becomes pre-occupied with matters that have little or nothing to do with being a disciple of Jesus Christ.
Churchianity is what a church suffers when most of its time, most of its energy, and most of its attention are devoted to things like:
- deciding what color the new pew cushions should be.
- deciding whether it should use wonder bread or pita pockets during communion.
- deciding whether the Deacons or the Trustees are in charge of painting the kitchen.
- deciding what color the kitchen should be painted.
- deciding whose going to organize the fundraiser for the new choir robes.
- deciding whether the new choir robes should be the same color as the new pew cushions.
- deciding whether they should serve regular and decaf during fellowship hour, or just regular, or just decaf.
- deciding how to keep the homeless people off its property so that the church building looks pretty during the week when nobody else is there anyway.
- deciding how to attract new members so it can get more pledging units so it can meet its budget.
Churchianity is what a church suffers when it becomes an empty shell of appearances devoted to trivial concerns. When folks get all dressed up in their best clothes and fancy vestments, gather on Sunday morning to recite prayers and sing hymns about love, justice, and serving others, but have no actual ministries devoted to love, justice, or service to others. Churchianity is what Dietrich Bonhoeffer called cheap grace--Christianity without the cross, without suffering, without joy, without death, without new life.
I believe that in our country today there are many people hungering and thirsting for authentic spiritual experience--people hungering and thirsting for a community where people really love God, a community where people really love each other with all their heart, mind, soul, and strength. They're not looking for a community where people look, sound, and act churchy--where people adopt pious tones in their voices and recite words about love, justice, and service, but don't openly express love for one another, pursue justice, or serve God's world. People are hungering and thirsting for a community where they can cry real tears of suffering and laugh uncontrollably with joy, not places where they have to behave and pretend everything is OK because they're in church.
People are looking for communities where the real heated debates are:
- how shall we love the homeless youth outside our door, and how shall we share our building with them?
- how shall we develop a ministry that responds to the needs of the elderly, and how shall we make our building more accessible to them?
- how shall we work to bring justice to working people in our city?
- how shall we follow Jesus Christ in today's world in a way that makes our faith and discipleship truly authentic?
This is what many people are looking for today--an authentic back-to-basics expression of Christianity--but what they are finding in many mainline Protestant Christian churches instead is churchianity. And that is why the mainline Protestant church is in decline. In many ways, it has lost touch with the basics. It is leaving people hungry and thirsty.
Today is our church's Pledge Sunday. As we prepare to dedicate our pledge, let us recall the basics.
When we pledge, we are pledging our selves to Christ and each other.
We are pledging to invest our lives into Christ and each other.
We are pledging to invest our time, our talent, and our resources into loving God, loving each other, seeking justice, serving God's world, and walking humbly with God.
Each other and Christ.
Christianity, not churchianity.
As it was in the beginning.
