Castrating Our Customs
Acts 8.26-39
I graduated from seminary nine years ago. And since then I’ve come to discover just what Princeton did and did not prepare me for when it comes to ministry.
For example-
The seminary curriculum prepared me to provide pastoral care to the elderly. But seminary did not teach me how to prop up an aging, increasingly senile senior pastor.
Dr Robert Dykstra trained me how to counsel a teenager in crisis.
But no one ever trained me in how to deal with pain-in-the-butt, difficult parishioners like He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named at the 8:30 service and well, you know who you are.
Princeton trained me to think theologically through the controversial issues of the day: abortion, euthanasia, homosexuality.
But no one at Princeton ever warned me, not even once, that talking about those hot button, emotionally-charged, touch-it-and-die issues isn’t nearly as dangerous or jeopardizing to a pastor’s quality of life as is…
upsetting a church choir.
I learned that lesson the hard way. The lesson came at the second church I pastored, during a worship committee meeting.
The reason the meeting had been called, was Ralph, the church organist.
Due to age and health issues, Ralph’s skills as an organist were in decline. Which was saying something because Ralph, bless his heart, even at the height of his organ-playing powers must have been scraping the bottom of the organ-playing barrel.
But now Ralph was pushing 80. He was dangerously diabetic and he was ADD, which meant Ralph couldn’t say no to foods he shouldn’t say yes to and he could never remember to take his insulin.
As a result, it was not unusual come Sunday morning for me to be standing in the narthex with the acolytes at 11:00, at 5 past 11, at 10 past 11, waiting for the prelude to begin and wondering where was Ralph.
And it was not unusual on those Sundays for me to have to hike up my robe, run out the sanctuary entrance, run down the sidewalk, run around the church to the music building and run up the stairs to the choir room where I’d find Ralph slumped over the piano in a diabetic stupor.
And it was not unusual on those Sundays for me to rouse Ralph by smacking him across the face, shoving a handful of Mr Werther’s Originals candies into his mouth and saying, in love:
‘Blank H. Blank, Ralph. Worship should’ve started 5 minutes ago. If you don’t get your Blank down there right now, I’m going to kick your Blanking Blank.’
Needless to say, when the worship committee called a meeting to discuss Ralph, it was not unexpected.
The worship committee, such as it was, consisted of three members of the six person choir, me and, awkwardly, Ralph.
The meeting began with Dot, the chair, through clenched teeth, reviewing the latest disaster that was Sunday morning. Ralph apologized and discussed his plans to retire soon and move back to Philly.
Then we moved on to discuss the relative difficulty of finding an organist in a small town. There just weren’t many (or any) to choose from.
And because of that fact, during our discussion, I offered what I thought was an innocent brainstorm:
‘Well, since finding an organist is so hard and our choir numbers are dwindling, why don’t we take this opportunity to hire someone who can be a bandleader, go a more contemporary route?’
They watched the words spill out of my mouth as though I’d just swallowed poison and now they were just waiting to see how long it would take me to die.
After a long silence that, in hindsight, I can identify as the eye of the storm, Dot cleared her throat and said:
‘Well, that’s a cute suggestion. Tell me Jason (she smiled) have you received any complaints about the choir?’
‘No,’ I lied.
‘But people who don’t attend here don’t call or email me to complain. People who don’t attend here don’t schedule appointments to discuss what we’re doing that’s not working for them.’
‘And your point is what?!’ Dot asked exasperated.
I figured I’d opened Pandora’s Box so I might as well own it.
‘My point is: there are more people NOT here on Sunday than people here. Maybe if we did something different to reach those people they’d be interested in coming.’
‘I doubt it’ Dot snarled. ‘besides, why should we have to change how we do church for them?’
‘Well maybe we should care more about them than we care about how we do church’ I said.
‘I think it’d be a big mistake’ Dot said, red-faced.
‘But if we’re going to make a mistake as a church,’ I said with not a little sanctimony in my voice, ‘then shouldn’t we err on the side of mission instead of preservation?’
No one said anything.
To be honest, I was rather impressed with myself, thought that there was no way any one could argue with that brilliant point.
And, at first, no one did.
Dot said, ‘Jason that’s a very good point to consider next time we meet.’
And I left the meeting, thinking:
‘Wow, what a good conversation, real progress. Boy, did I do a good job changing their minds. I’m awesome. Dennis would be so proud of me.’
A day passed before I started receiving letters.
And, let’s face it: because I’m petty, I kept them all. I keep them in a manilla folder labeled ‘Crank File.’
My favorite was written in shaky handwriting on Teddy Bear stationary.
Dear Pastor,
It’s come to my attention that you’re opposed to traditional worship, and want to replace our beloved organ and choir with a rock-n-roll band. Are you trying to ruin our church or are you really that incompetent? It shocks me that someone of your intelligence would want to dumb down the worship of our Lord. In addition to discussing Ralph’s replacement perhaps we should discuss yours.
In Christian Love,
Anonymous
St. Luke’s story of the Ethiopian Eunuch is poignant because of what Luke doesn’t tell you. What Luke leaves unsaid.
For example-
Luke tells you that this “man had gone to Jerusalem to worship but was now on his way home.”
What Luke doesn’t tell you is that the Holiness Codes in the Book of Deuteronomy consider eunuchs to be sexually deformed.
And thus ritually impure.
And thus barred from the Temple.
And thus barred from the worship life of Israel.
What Luke doesn’t tell you- and it’s kind of PG13 and I only mention it because it’s actually relevant- eunuchs in the Ethiopian Court were’t just castrated. They were dismembered too.
And so it’s not just a case of ritual impurity.
He could never be circumcised.
And so he could never become Jewish.
And so he could never be welcomed.
Or included among the People of God.
And so what Luke leaves unsaid is that this man, the unlikeliest of seekers, has come all the way to Jerusalem, from a great distance, of his own accord, on his own dime-
Because he’s curious, because he’s hungry, because he wants to connect to God, because he has questions he wants answered, maybe because he can’t have a family of his own and he wants a community where he can belong.
What Luke leaves unsaid is that this man has taken the risk of being a newcomer, being a stranger, being an outsider- only to be turned away by a community that valued its traditions and its customs more than they valued him.
Luke leaves it unsaid but that’s why he’s on his way home.
Luke leaves the important parts unsaid.
For example-
Luke tells you it’s the Holy Spirit’s idea for Philip to be on that road to Gaza.
What Luke doesn’t tell you, what he leaves unsaid, is that as soon as Philip see that Ethiopian Eunuch, Philip would’ve had all the same reactions to him as the priests in the Temple did back in Jerusalem.
Luke tells you that the Spirit commands Philip to approach the Ethiopian’s chariot.
What Luke leaves unsaid is that before Philip takes a single step towards that chariot he has to choose.
What’s more important?
The customs and traditions and categories he’s grown up with and always assumed?
Or the opportunity to help someone understand and experience the grace of God?
Luke leaves unsaid that before Philip gets up into that chariot, Philip has to decide.
Is changing another’s life in Jesus Christ worth him having to change his?
And you can guess Philip’s answer because when the stranger asks Philip: ‘What’s stopping me from being baptized?’ Philip leaves unsaid every possible objection.
Because none of those was as important as seeing this man rejoice in the grace of Jesus of Christ.
According to the Pew Research Foundation, if you gathered together all the non-religious people in the US they would comprise the 11th largest nation in the world.
According to that same research, 80% of Americans self-identify as Christian. But less than 1/4 of those Americans participate in a local church.
In other words-
They like Jesus, just not the church.
In other words-
They want to experience God; they just don’t think that’s going to happen for them here.
Why is that?
I mean- sure, you could say they’re just not interested in the church.
But I wonder how much of that is just us blaming the victim?
I wonder if those statistics are the way they are because the grace and openness and welcome that people find in Christ is harder to be found in Christ’s Church?
The truth is-
Every church struggles with ‘here’s our version of Christianity and if you can find your spot in it, if you can adapt to our way of doing church, if you can accommodate us…we’d love to have you.‘
The first church struggled with this right out of the gate.
It starts with Philip here in Acts 8.
The first church struggled with which version of Christianity would be theirs, who they’d include and who they’d exclude, which ways of doing church would be the ways they would always do them.
And they eventually brought those struggles to a church-wide meeting in Acts 15.
And it was at that meeting that James, the brother of Jesus, made the decision for the first church, about what kind of church they would be.
And what James said to the first church couldn’t be more important to today’s church.
James said:
‘We should not make it difficult for people to come to faith in Jesus Christ.’
The first church was able to move beyond Jerusalem and beyond the first century because they decided early on that they were going to be the kind of community that valued people more than personal preferences.
They were going to be the kind of community that would remove-rethink-adapt anything they were doing that got in the way of people turning to God.
How they did church was not going to be as important to them as seeing new faces rejoice in the grace of Jesus Christ.
And they were able to make this decision because they realized it was the Holy Spirit driving them to it. And if they resisted, they’d be resisting the will of God.
That’s why Luke describes Philip in the passive voice:
Philip is led. Philip is directed. Philip is told.
Philip’s mouth is opened and he’s given words to speak.
Which is interesting.
Because when it comes to church we don’t ever speak in the passive voice.
It’s always: This is what I like. This is what I prefer. This is what I enjoy. This is what I want. This is what I think. This is what I believe. This is how we’ve always done it.
But if the Book of Acts is to be believed then the opposite of a Spirit-led Church is a Church based driven by personal preference.
The opposite of being a Spirit-led Church is being risk-adverse.
The opposite of being a Spirit-filled Church is caring more about preservation than transformation.
The opposite of following the Spirit is developing strategies, inadvertent or not, that keep others out.
Like I’ve told you for the last two weeks, this couldn’t be more urgent and more personal for me.
But this time not as a pastor. This time as a parent. As a father.
My boys are lucky to have this church.
They love this place. They love God because of this place.
I mean- because of you Alexander actually knows a bible character as obscure as Shamgar, the left-handed assassin in Judges.
And because of you Gabriel has learned that A) Jesus’ presence is everywhere and B) Jesus is in everyone. Therefore, Gabriel has concluded, Jesus is inside penguins.
But I worry.
I look at statistics like those numbers of people who say they love Jesus but the Church, not so much.
I look at statistics like those and I worry.
I worry that when my boys are my age they won’t be able to find a church that cares more about them than it cares about itself.
If the statistics are accurate, then I worry.
I worry that when Gabriel is my age all he’ll find are churches that are more concerned with seeing their version of Christianity preserved than with seeing the delight of Jesus Christ flash across his face.
I worry that when Alexander is my age all he’ll find are churches who care more about insisting this is the way they’ve always done it than they care about asking what way will get Alexander to give his life more deeply to God.
My boys are lucky to have this church. And you care about them.
But I worry that in 20 years or so no other church will.
And so, I know its selfish but hey its Father’s Day.
So for the boys’ sake I’m relying on you-
I want us to be a church that cares more about people than how we do church.
I want us to be a church that is ready to rethink anything we do, any assumptions we have, that might make it difficult for others to come to Jesus Christ.
I want us to be a church that’s as concerned with who’s not here yet than who’s here.
I want us to be a Spirit-led church that’s willing to take risks for the future, that’s open to change, because we know the only thing that’s not up for grabs is our calling to get the love of Jesus Christ in someone new.
You already love my boys. I’m just asking you to do whatever’s required to keep on doing it.
Comments
Leave a comment
Trackbacks & Pingbacks
No incoming links found yet.
OUTSTANDING read…. Definitely something to think about. 3 lines hit me; opened my eyes; touched me deeply… Very True statements.
-“What Luke leaves unsaid is that this man has taken the risk of being a newcomer, being a stranger, being an outsider- only to be turned away by a community that valued its traditions and its customs more than they valued him.”
– “Every church struggles with ‘here’s our version of Christianity and if you can find your spot in it, if you can adapt to our way of doing church, if you can accommodate us…we’d love to have you.”
– “I want us to be a Spirit-led church that’s willing to take risks for the future, that’s open to change, because we know the only thing that’s not up for grabs is our calling to get the love of Jesus Christ in someone new.”
Sorry SO long, but great job Jason!!