Experiment

"EXTREME MAKEOVER"
Text: Philippians 2:1-13
Faith United
September 28, 2009


Tony Campolo tells the story of a friend of his
who had joined a support group for people who had loved ones
dying of AIDS
One woman in the group was especially negative
toward the church and pointed out that she didn't go to church
anymore because the people in her congregation
were so condemning of her son
and so judgmental of her for raising a boy
that turned out to be gay
She'd reached a point at which she could honestly say
She hated the church
In the course of her tirades,
she happened to mention that the only person
who had ever given her any help
was an elderly man who had recently
moved in next door to her
"Every morning," she said,
"he comes over and has coffee with me
and listens to me unburden myself.
He holds my hand and comforts me as a I cry.
If it wasn't for him,
I don't know what I would do
Why can't church people be like that?"
What the woman didn't know was that that man
was a retired Presbyterian minister
He didn't tell her about his previous vocation
because he knew that, more than anything else
she needed a friend who would listen
He knew that if she knew he was a clergyperson
she might not trust him
Telling her about his past vocation would come later,
but for now, she just needed a shoulder to cry on
and a trustworthy friend to listen….

Many of you perhaps read the article
in yesterday's Kearney Hub
about a journalist named Julia Duin
who has a new book called "Quitting Church"
It's a book about all the people she interviewed
who are, as the title says, quitting church
Who leave out of disillusionment, exhaustion,
or just plain disinterest
Most of the people she interviewed
were not people who just tried it and didn't like it
but were people who had been churchgoers
for many years
and THEN after being frustrated for years
decided to walk away from it all
It's not about liberal churches or conservative churches, either
but the statistics run the gamut of churches
People basically weren't finding church to be relevant
to their lives anymore
They weren't finding a safe place to come
to be themselves
and to ask the questions that burned on their hearts

It was strange that that article showed up yesterday
because last week
I came across a book that intrigued me
called, "So You Don't Want to Go to Church Anymore"
by two former pastors
It's a novel,
but it's a novel based on the author's own experiences
as well as those of people he's met in his life
It, too, expresses a deep hunger for God in people
but a hunger that doesn't seem to get fed in church
He tells about people who are tired of meetings
that serve no purpose
but it would seem to them that people feel like we've done church
if we have a meeting
or attend a service
The general feeling was that people were tired of attending meetings
to talk about everything BUT
what is foremost in their hearts
The day to day struggles of trying to get by
Of trying to make a living,
to live a good life, a meaningful life
He told about clergy who are burnt out on church
and who feel like being a pastor
gets in the way of being a follower of Christ
I was intrigued, disturbed
and fascinated by both the article
and the book
and the timing of them both

Today we're supposed to have a Nominations Committee Meeting
to recruit people to be on our committees
for the coming year
Nobody really wants to be on the Nominations Committee
because we generally have to call and beg people
to take a position
so we can fill out our forms
All too often, people don't show up for this meeting
The last couple of years
we've had trouble getting the people who agreed to be
on these committees to come to the meetings
As I've said before,
someone wise once said that
insanity is doing the same thing over and over again
and expecting different results
Last year our list of people on committees
turned out to be a mess
and this year, the list is really messed up
Partly because some people were put on committees
who didn't want to be
and then, the very real problem we've had,
is that we've had a lot of good people move away this year
and some others have died
All week I've been struggling with what to do
and how to approach this
all while I was wondering what to say today

And then this passage:
"If you've gotten anything at all out of following Christ,
if his love has made any difference in your life,
if being in a community of the Spirit means anything to you,
if you have a heart, if you care--
then do me a favor, Agree with each other,
love each other, be deep-spirited friends."

Paul is saying this to the Philippian church
that, like many churches, struggles with conflict,
with gossip, with hearsay, and power struggles
This is very simple, practical advice
from a pastor to his church
And what I get from it, is that all of it
comes back to Jesus

Why are we here?
Why do we keep trying this church thing?
We get frustrated,
yes, we have boring meetings
and sometimes we meet even when we don't need to meet
we disagree with each other
or we still are irritated with that person
that has irritated us for 25 years
Why do we do this?
Why do we keep on trying church?
If we leave meetings frustrated with that other person
if we stew for days over what someone said to us in line
If we have private hurts that we suck up while we're here
because we know that others might judge us
and we just put on a happy face
Why do we keep coming?
When we keep needing more and more money
and it never seems to be enough
when the buildings start to fall apart
and all the bills come in at once
Hey, we've got enough of our own problems
why do we bother?
Why don't we save ourselves the hassle?

But then I read again what Paul writes:
"If you've gotten anything at all out of following Christ,
if his love has made any difference in your life,
if being in community of the Spirit means anything to you,
if you have a heart, if you care…"
Well, maybe, just maybe, we keep coming
because there's something here
that we're looking for
we can't always name it
we can't pinpoint it,
but something happens when we walk in
when we go through the familiar motions
or sing familiar songs
We remember a time
when Jesus seemed so real
when his love overwhelmed us
When someone gave us a prayer blanket
or brought over some food
or wept with us when our loved one died
When someone said just the right thing
that we needed to hear
When someone could see beyond our pretense
and the front we put up
and knew that we were hurting
and they listened..
That's what we remember, maybe
We remember times when Jesus was real
when Jesus had skin on and embraced us
or was able to reach us, touch us,
through his people,
through his congregation
and so we come back, hoping for more

It all comes back to Jesus..
maybe we know just enough
to know that Jesus is real
and that following him is the life we want
that giving to his people, through service and love
and caring and comfort
brings meaning and purpose to our lives
Paul says,
"Don't push your way to the front.
Don't sweet-talk your way to the top.
Put yourself aside, and help others get ahead
Don't be obsessed with getting your own advantage
Forget yourselves long enough to lend a helping hand."
Think of Jesus, he said
He was equal to God, but didn't go around strutting his stuff
didn't go around trying to push people around
or make them agree with him
He served people, he loved people
He put on this humbling human body
that doesn't always work well…
He didn't try to get ahead, or claim special privileges
he just served God by serving God's people
through LOVE
He was obedient to God
even if it meant getting killed
I think it all comes back to Jesus
After all, isn't that who called us here in the first place?
Isn't he the reason we exist at all?

I have a radical idea:
let's try to figure out what Jesus wants from this church
Let's try to figure out what Jesus wants from each of us
I think in the coming year
each committee will gather at the beginning of the year
to talk about exactly what the committee is for
and how it can serve God
and how, through that, the members on the committee
can grow in the spirit of Christ
If there's a time when that committee doesn't have an agenda
or a specific need to meet, we won't meet

I have ideas of what I think the church ought to be
but I'm only one person
and I know that many of you have many gifts
and many ideas
I don't want meetings to be more opportunity
to feel guilty and obligated and used
Ideally, I'd like meetings to be a time of fellowship
a time where we talk about what God might be doing
what ways we can reach out in Christ
We know it doesn't work
to make people feel guilty or ashamed
and use that to motivate them to say yes
I want people to be here because they want to be
I want you to be here because you, too, still believe in Christ
and believe that he has things yet to do
through us here at Faith United
My hope is that church can be a place
where we can bring our deepst hurts
our nagging doubts
our questions, and our celebrations
where we won't be judged or hurt intentionally
where, as Paul says, we can be deep-spirited friends

You may say I'm a dreamer,
but I hope I'm not the only one
Because I believe that Jesus is a dreamer
They thought he was, too, when he was here walking around
I want to dream Jesus' dreams for his people
and I want to dream with you
Let's experiment,
let's dream this coming year
let's think outside the box
let's dare to pray to God to show us ways that we can grow
as individual followers of Christ
and as a church
I don't care how many bodies we get in the pews --
I know that's hard to believe--
I don't care if new members are dirt poor
or amazingly wealthy
I want everyone to feel welcomed here
It's not about numbers, finally, although yes,
we have to worry about that to some degree
but when it comes right down to it,
I would rather have a small congregation of people
who are excited, willing to grow
ready to pray, ready to dare, and to think outside the box
Willing to love one another as we are
willing to love others who come across our paths
willing to seek more and more ways to reach out
to do what Jesus did
Give healing and comfort
set people free who are all tied up
feed the hungry, clothe those who need clothing
comfort those in pain
and be a place where everyone is safe and loved
and who leave here feeling the unmistakeable suspicion
that God was here today, too

A lot of people are burnt out on church
and I can't always blame them
but I do believe that there is enough of us
who want more
who don't want to see the Church become
yet another burden in people's lives,
but to be the Church in this community
that gives us life
that makes us want to come, want to be a part of it
want to have our stake in it
want to grow in Christ

Maybe we can't do it, I don't know
I know we can't do it without God's help
We can't do it without
calling on God every day
to say, show us the way
lead us this day
show us how to be the loving people
the passionate dreamers that we see Jesus to be
Dare us to dream, God
and to follow that up with our own action

We're not going to have a Nominations Committee meeting today
Nobody wants to call up people
and beg them to take a place on a committee
nobody wants to be rejected over and over again
I want to challenge you--
I have the sheets out there
with the list of openings on those committees
and I want you to pray while you're here
to think about what you'd be willing to do
how you'd be willing to serve
where you would hope you could grow in your faith
and sign up for one of those committees
I'll have it out there all week and next Sunday
and if nobody signs up, then we'll have to do what we always do
and call you up and beg you
but for now, I want to try something different
with the idea that meetings will be different this year
that we'll try to dream, to think, to pray together
call me crazy, maybe I am
but at least I'm not insane enough to keep doing the same thing
over and over and expect it to change
Dream with me,
hope with me,
and let's figure out what God is possibly thinking about us

"if you've ever gotten anything at all out of following Christ,
if his love has made any difference in your life,
if being in a community of the Spirit
means anything to you, if you have heart
if you care.. then do me a favor:
love each other, be deep-spirited friends."
Let's just see what God can do…