Church Matters

By Mary Rodgers, May 16, 2004

To the Church in Ephesus: I know your works, your toil and your patient endurance. I know that you cannot tolerate evil doers; you have tested those who claim to be apostles but are not, and have found them to be false. I also know that you are enduring patiently and bearing up for the sake of my name and that you have not grown weary. But I have this against you: You have abandoned the love you had at first. Remember then from what you have fallen; repent and do the works that you did at first.

To the Church in Sardis I know your works-you have a name of being alive but you are dead. Wake up and strengthen what remains and is on the point of death.

To the Church in Philadelphia: I see what you've done. Now see what I have done. I've opened a door before you that no one can shut. You don't have much strength. I know that; you used what you had to keep my Word. You didn't deny me when times were rough.

To the Church: in Laodicea: I know your works. You are neither cold nor hot. So because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I am about to spit you put of my mouth. For you say that "I am rich, I have prospered and I need nothing." You do not realize that you are pitiable, poor, blind and naked.

I've been wrestling with two questions over the past several weeks. The first one is: Does the church matter? And the second one is: Who needs the Church? Now this struggle did not come out of the blue. It began when I was reminded that I would be preaching today, on Confirmation Sunday, when it is more than appropriate to speak about the church. It was suggested that maybe even church membership might be a good topic. And all I could envision was the Book of Order and that long list of duties and responsibilities. And in my heart of hearts I thought that's the LAST thing I want to preach about. Now I should have known that whenever I say something like that it's a sure sign that the Spirit is about to move. And it did two weeks later when I was sitting at the dinner table with an older youth of our congregation who was seriously questioning the validity of the church, the need to be a part of one and whether or not it was essential to faith. In fact so serious were his questions that much of our conversation was him trying to convince me that spirituality and faith are personal and should remain that way without the church dictating to him what he should or should not do or believe. It was a compelling conversation.

Evidently this youth is not alone in his thoughts about the church. For whatever reason, half of the more than ninety percent of US residents who claim they believe in God also admit to the pollsters that they do not attend any religious gathering. Now there is a part of me who understands how one might conclude that faith is an individual matter. In fact some of the most spiritual moments in my life, the moments of heightened awareness of my connectedness to God have happened outside of a church building and without the presence of other people. If you've ever felt the same thing then you know it is a powerful experience when you hear that still small voice or feel that feeling inside of that you believe is the voice of and presence of God. You know how faith shaping and soul mending it can be. And for some people, it makes them ask: does the church matter?

I must admit that in my journey with this topic there was some initial embarrassment when I found that I really was struggling with these questions. I am Pastor, for God's sake! Of course we need the church. We need the church because we are Christians! Faith / Christian / Church no brainer! But somehow I did not think that a "typical" pastor answer would mean that much to the this young man or to the confirmation class. Does the church matter? Who needs the church?

Apparently other church leaders are asking similar questions: Barbara Wheeler, President of Austin Theological Seminary wrote an essay called "Who Needs the Church?" (Wheeler, Barbara Who Needs the Church The Price Gwynn Leadership Series' Geneva Press) In her essay she tells the story of a nurse named Sheila whom she says, could become a poster child for those, probably four out of five Americas for whom religious faith is largely an individual matter Sheila says: I believe in God. I'm not a religious fanatic. I can't remember the last time I went to church. My faith has carried me a long way. It's Sheilaism. Just my own little voice. Wheeler thinks that being a member of a church, being affiliated with a community of believers is now "counter-cultural." Until very recently, she says, most people felt obliged to explain why they did not hold traditional beliefs or belong to established congregations Now, she says, "the pressure is to explain not why one doesn't believe and belong but why one does." That's exactly what I felt like I was doing when I was talking to the youth after dinner: explaining why I believe and why I belong. The same thing happens when I have to respond to my friends who say: "I'm spiritual but not religious." Have you heard that one? I'm spiritual but not religious. In other words: I believe in God but I do not regularly participate in a congregation.

With all the bad publicity about the church, maybe it is understandable why some people have decided to be spiritual but not religious. Here's what some have said about the church: the church is wasteful using money for their own maintenance instead of for people's needs. The church is hypocritical preaching forgiveness and love while members are bitterly fighting. Truth be told, how many of us at one time or another haven't thrown up our hands in disgust saying "I can't believe this is the church and that these are church people!" There is plenty of negative critique to go around, some of it not unfounded.

In fact if you wanted to make a case you could go to the Bible. In our passage today there are seven progress reports, or "evaluations" of seven different churches. In a nutshell, these evaluations were visions given to John about what Jesus has to say about these churches. You may be surprised as I was to find out just how frank the critique could be. Although the church at Ephesus had been patiently enduring during hard times they had abandoned the love they once had. The church at Sardis? They had a reputation of being alive but in reality were dead. The Church in Laedocia was neither hot nor cold. It was lukewarm. And because it was lukewarm and neither hot nor cold Jesus was about to spit it out of his mouth. In other words the church made him sick! It's not just in the book of Revelation that you can find such critiques.

Read Corinthians and you'll find that the church in Corinth was fighting about spiritual gifts! Which one is best? So what we learn from the Bible is that from the very beginning the Church has been critiqued from within and found to be wanting. And the fact of the matter is that it will always need critiquing because it made up of human beings.

So does that mean that we should do like Sheila and so many others have and move to an individual faith? Just me, myself, and God and my own little voice? It sure is enticing, especially when you are in the middle of church change or conflict. But I wonder, if you make that choice what happens when you can't hear the voice? What happens when you can't find God? What happens when you feel like God is absent. Haven't we all known what it is like to feel disconnected from God? To feel that God has abandoned us or forgotten us. What will Sheila do when those things happen to her? Because those times happen to everybody. Even to ministers.

When my Dad was sick with cancer and we knew that he was dying, not only could I not hear the voice, I could not find my own voice in prayer. I found that I could not pray for him. And the fact that I could not pray for my own father was a source of great pain for me until several months after his death when I read about another Pastor who had a similar story. One day this Pastor, with a sense of shame and in tears confessed to a friend that he had prayed with and for hundreds of people in his career as a pastor but for the months when his wife was dying of cancer he could not bring himself to pray for her. And all his friend said was: that's ok because other people were doing it for you. It was in that moment that moment I realized that you, this church were the ones who were praying when I couldn't and that it was ok. Without connection to a community of faith how would that have happened? Sometimes we cannot love God alone. I love the way one person put it: None of us is strong enough to keep loving God at the bad times. That's why the church matters because it makes me into a we at the times when we most need it. Whether we realize at the moment or not.

Chelsea, Ashley, Erika, Taylor, Tyler, Shane, Daniel, Brian, Chris, David, Peter, and Grey: Today you have decided to become a member of this church. And that matters. On a day to day level knowing that matters will be an act of faith. It's an act of faith for me, and your parents and for everyone who call calls themselves Christian. Because there will always be other things that, at the time, will matter just as much as or maybe even more. Final exams, prom, ball games…..In every phase of your life, there will demands on your time that will seem to matter more.

As I was preparing for this sermon, I asked this question of a friend and she told me something that her father had once told her. When I was younger he said, starting my family, advancing in my career, there were ten other things that I would have liked to have done on Sunday morning, and when you kids needed shoes, and clothes, money for camp and college tuition sometimes the hardest check to write was the one to the church. Most of the time I did not know if it mattered. Then twenty-five years later when your Mother lay in the hospital dying and the church people created a schedule to come a sit with her so that she would never be alone. It finally dawned on me how much it matters.

When you stick with a congregation for better and for worse, sharing your faith when God gives you a lot of it, you too will receive faith from others at the desperate moments when you can't find your own. The Church does matter. Thanks be to God.

© Copyright, 2004, Mary Rodgers
All Rights Reserved.
Providence Presbyterian Church
Fairfax, Virginia