Not Overwhelmed

A pastor friend of mine was telling me sadly about a member of his parish who is stuck on the idea that the church is just another business and should operate exactly like any other business.

After all, we have been living in a market society with a management economy.

Many of them have the same or apparently similar product, so that the one that markets and manages the best “wins.”

Is that our picture of the church?

Does that have any remote connection with the vision of the church given in the book of Revelation?

Does it match anything we see in Jesus' own actions?

Let's review Jesus' marketing plan.

He chose twelve guys to be his inner circle of companions, twelve who anyone else would consider low-class, ordinary, undistinguished, worker-bees.

As far as we know, these twelve did not each go and recruit twelve more as their own disciples, so the scheme was not duplicated; it was much more haphazard than that.

At one point, the crowd tried to make Jesus King, and he ran far from the crowd.

How's that for capitalizing on opportunities?

Jesus went all over the countryside preaching and teaching, seemingly without a checklist of where he has been and whom he has helped. Was anyone keeping track?

When we hear something newsworthy, we have to market it and manage it right away, while the public is still interested.

Jesus commands people not to tell, because he knows they will focus only on what they think is the sensational before they encounter the truly good news of the resurrection.

Yes, all the current marketing people would give Jesus a very poor score on the way he works.

I read this prickly paragraph this week:

“It seems that the more we market ourselves and manage our churches like big business, the less people believe, the less we look like Jesus, and the less it must seem that we are relying on Jesus.

Maybe that is why the church is not growing in the US.

However, the church in Africa and Asia is growing wildly, where marketing and management in the western sense are often illegal!”

That writer, Peter Hiett, may have an accurate observation.

So let's take our cue from the opening of the book of Revelation and sing together:

Praise to the Lord, the Almighty,

the King of creation!

O my soul, praise him,

for he is your health and salvation!

Let all who hear

Now to his temple draw near,

Joining in glad adoration. [#543.1]

It is a perfectly ridiculous activity.

It is almost the only place where people sing together anymore in American society.

But if singing is one of the chief activities in John's vision of the heavenly glory, then we can say that we are in rehearsals now.

How much? How often?

We have a hymn to answer that as well:

When morning gilds the sky

My heart awakening cries

May Jesus Christ be praised.

When evening shadows fall,

This rings my curfew call

May Jesus Christ be praised! [#546.1]

Any time, every time is the right time.

Singing is practical only if it is being used to manipulate people in an advertizing jingle,

but for us when we gather as the church, it is a sign that we are not being overwhelmed by the problems of the day, and that we are being enlivened by John's vision of the outcome of the whole creation.

And that is something about which we can indeed sing joyfully, with angels, archangels and all the company of heaven we respond:

Blessing and honor and glory and power,

Wisdom and riches and strength evermore.

Offer to him who our battle has won.

Whose are the kingdom, the crown, and the throne. [#525.1]

We do need to keep a firm grip on this vision, because the problems pile up quickly.

Each of us knows how it happens in our own life.

I'll give a glimpse into a few of the things that have happened to me in the past week.

A man stopped in with two kids in tow, and said, “I don't know what I'm going to do. I took a ½ vacation day from my job to try to organize some way in which to pay these bills. My wife walked away from me and our three children, and I'm trying to cope. I haven't asked for help before, but I'm sinking.

A man called from Arizona and wanted to make arrangements in advance for a committal service in one of the country cemeteries for a person who moved away from Williamsport 30 years ago but who wants the pastor of St. Mark's Church to officiate at the service.

I had conversations with persons with chronic health problems, hearing their decisions about how best to deal with their situations.

Persons called to talk about heartaches at their jobs.

A person called looking for $500 for a security deposit in order to get a new apartment since the landlord had another tenant who would pay a higher rent. I had to tell her that was completely outside of our means, but I did direct her to Family Promise, for which she and her family might qualify until they can get everything else in their family life re-organized.

And then there is the number of persons to whom I simply had to say no because their needs were so far beyond our means or their stories were so implausible, or both.

Of course there is another side of things as well:

A man stopped in and said, “I wonder if you would walk over to the nave with me. I don't live around here anymore. I want to stand where I stood 17 years ago when I got married right before Pr. Brandau retired.

Would you take my picture here in front of the altar, so I can send it to my wife and say 'I do...I still do.' Thanks for taking the time to be with me today.”

One of our actor friends came in wearing disguise making him look two generations older than he actually is, causing great laughter when all was revealed.

I keep hoping that our gentle conversation and openness will help him to recognize how Jesus is knocking at his door.

Weekday mornings several of us gather at 9:00 for Morning Prayer: centered on psalms, hymn, scripture, and prayers.

Earlier in the fall we read through Acts; November is devoted to the Gospel readings, and in Advent this year we read from Thessalonians.

There are 25 chairs in the chapel and we have never yet filled them for Morning Prayer.

Very little of this sounds like a typical business plan, does it?

Most of it, one portion of the pastor's work, is responding to the situations as they arise day by day.

The joy of the man remembering his wedding 17 years ago could be easily overshadowed by the pain of the crowd of people needing financial assistance now,

if we did not keep on remembering who it is that is ultimately in charge of this creation with all of its twists and turns; Christ is King, now and ultimately.

John on the island of Patmos responded to the overwhelming nature of the problems around him with the affirmation of the victory of God in Christ Jesus.

Remember that he was exiled there, shut away from his familiar people and surroundings.

John proclaimed that what happens in Jesus is not something personal and private; it is public and even cosmic.

There is no corner of creation that is immune from the grace of God in Christ Jesus.

And so again and again, John in Revelation breaks into song, great hymns of joy in God's victory over evil, death, and darkness.

We know that, too, when we sing a profound hymn of the faith, and not just in a rational, intellectual way, but in the deepest depths of our being.

This singing, in hymn and prayer, enables us to go on with life in confidence, despite its problems.

Just as in the Easter season we know how to respond to

Christ is risen: He is risen indeed.

So on this day let's modify it just a bit and proclaim:

Christ is King: He is King indeed. Amen.

Please note: The preceding sermon is provided as a resource for the thought, prayer, and meditation of the members and friends of St. Mark's. It is the residue of a verbal event, and thus it does not have academic footnotes and other details that would be expected in a written document. The writer gladly acknowledges the prior thought and work of many Christians before him.