A few weeks ago I began a litany of seven observations as to why people
don't go to church. The first reason had to do with how we do our best
to keep people out of our little social clubs. The face of Christ is
revealed in every person that we meet but I suspect that even He, given
his politics and the people he hung out with would not be welcome in
some of our houses of worship. Here I will discuss a very simple
solution.
How many hours per week did Jesus spend in the office?
He didn't. He went out to where the people were. That is what we and our
clergy need to do. I knew a Presbyterian pastor who spent five days a
week from 9 to 5 sequestered away in his office. Most of his time was
spent on homily preparation (which were quite boring). His church is
now closed. In five years time, he brought no one into the church.
I
also knew a priest who would prepare his homily on Saturday around
three o'clock – one hour before the four o'clock mass. His homilies
were always magnificent and not because he was exceptionally good at
extemporization, or that he quickly perused canned homilies for ideas,
but because of how he spent his week; He was rarely in his office.
Instead, he was in everyone else's office. When not in the rectory he
was out visiting people. He attended every single event that was held at
the church. If he couldn't attend some gathering or meeting he would at
least show up when it was over and always provided an opportunity to
make himself available to the people. He knew everything going on in
everyone's life and when he preached on the weekend, he always
incorporated stories of the people in the parish and how the life of the
parish sinuously intersected with the Gospel teachings. His every
waking moment was preparation for his homily and his homily was always a
charge to to everyone to walk the Gospel walk. It was all quite
simple. His church went from three Masses per week to five in a fifteen
year span. Two of them were standing room only.
Have you ever
noticed how people love to talk about something which they are
passionate about? Sports, movies, music, a trip, politics, their job,
family? People love to talk about what they love. The priest in the
aforementioned story loved people.
I once attended a music
convention for the National Association of Pastoral Musicians and I left
re-energized and newly inspired to do my job. I came home from the week
long convention and told everyone about it and invited them to join me
next year. The following year, no one joined me and that was okay but
when I came back, all I could do was to reiterate how magnificent the
experience was. The following year one of my choir members joined me
and when she returned all she did was rave about how magnificent the
convention was and how inspired she became. Indeed she was a changed
person and became more active in the church. Not only in music but in
other ministries as well. The following year three more choir members
joined us and the next year four more people joined us and they were not
even in the choir. Not only were we reaching out to people but so were
my choir members as they began talking about the convention to music
directors and choir members from other churches. One year we had about
35 people go to the convention. Energy begets energy.
One of
the conundrums that churches have is that they like to talk about their
problems and issues. When Jesus stepped out of the boat and walked on
water, he invited Peter to join him but Peter was skeptical. When he
saw the storm and the high waves, he had doubts and indeed he failed.
That is what our churches do, too. They look at the storm and they talk
about their failure. We need to feel as big as the sky because it is
just a storm. Have you ever seen a storm on the ocean from a distance?
It is just a storm. I’ve never seen a saddle fall off a horse so the
church needs to learn to become one with the saddle. To not be afraid
of the storm, the horse or the saddle. Ultimately, to be one with the
Gospels.
So, some of us come up with new ideas and gimmicks in a
churlish attempt to attract people to our churches and often times they
fail. If not immediately, eventually. One of the reasons is our methods
of PR. Putting an announcement in the church bulletin only reaches the
people who come to church and who read the bulletin. Many people are
also not interested in our movie night because they have Netflix.
Others are not interested in our educational programs because either
they are too busy or we fail to inspire them to apply what they learn
from those programs. Algebra and geometry are perfect examples. If
you teach only the formula, it is difficult to understand. But, if you
teach real world application, they become valuable tools. Just ask any
construction worker or home owner who likes to fixit themselves.
There
is a church who about 25 years ago had a women's club who made it their
mission to spend the year talking about their church to people in the
community seven days a week. It could be a passing comment or an
invitation, but they would talk about the church, the people, about the
activities, the coffee hour, what they did as far as ministries and they
wouldn't be preachy about it, either. The church saw significant growth
over a period of five years all because of simple physics: Energy
begets energy. As people joined, they too, from example, talked about
the church to other people, made invitations and even more people
joined. Soon the church was filled with life and many active groups.
Then they stopped their outreach and enjoyed the fruits of their labor.
The children of that growth spurt are now grown up and gone, those new
members are now elderly and the church is now struggling, not seeing any
new growth.
It is not enough talk to our friends and family
members. We already know them and they probably already go to church if
not the same one. We need to reach out to the stranger and the lepers
among us. I never understood fear and prejudice, that's not how I was
raised but our parole shelters, AA meetings and food pantries are
bursting at the seams with people who don't go to church but may partake
in its largess. I know a wealthy church who sponsors a weekly soup
kitchen and they serve about 200 people each week. Strangely, none of
those 200 attend that church.
Jesus sat with ordinary people. He
even sat down with even the disreputable. Public opinion was never a
problem with Jesus. He was a genuine human person, a real brother to the
poor, the weak, the sick, the alienated. He was not a benefactor, or a
patron, or a philanthropist - but a brother.
In this lies the
greatness of Jesus. To have real power and influence one does not
control or manipulate. One serves and builds and loves. Some people
may come for the movie night or the free food, but what will make them
come back is the listening ear and the welcoming embrace.
Immanuel,
a name which means "God is with us." It does not mean that God solves
our problems, shows us the way out of our confusion, or offers answers
for our many questions. It means he is with us, willing to enter with
us into our problems, confusions, and questions.
I used to
answer a suicide hotline and the first skill we were trained in was
listening, being quiet and being present. My greatest successes and
breakthroughs were when I said nothing. Henri Nouwen wrote, “The friend
who can be silent with us in a moment of despair or confusion, who can
stay with us in an hour of grief and bereavement, who can tolerate not
knowing... not healing, not curing... that is a friend who cares.”
We,
do not aspire to suffer with others. On the contrary, we develop
methods and techniques that allow us to stay away from pain. Hospitals,
nursing homes, rest homes, funeral homes, they all often become places
to hide the sick, the suffering, and the dead. Suffering is
unattractive, repelling and disgusting. The less we are confronted with
it, the better. It is something we want to avoid at all cost. Among
some people, compassion is not among our most natural responses.
But,
in times of trial, if someone were to say to us, "I do not know what to
say or what to do, but I want you to realize that I am with you, that I
will not leave you alone," we have a friend through whom we can find
consolation and comfort.
What really counts, is that in the
moments of pain and suffering, someone stays with us. More important
than any particular action, or word of advice, is the simple presence of
someone who cares. They show solidarity with us by willingly entering
the dark spaces
of our lives. For this reason, they, like God, are
the ones who bring hope and help us discover new directions. From the
Beatitudes, Jesus says, "Blessed are those who mourn." Not because
mourning is good, but because they shall be comforted.
Do our churches comfort or have really good card parties and pot lucks?
Courage
is not the absence of fear. Courage is dong what we need to do or is
the right thing to do. Even in the presence of fear. Many people are
afraid of bees because bees can sting and it hurts. Some people will
even kill a bee on sight not realizing or, with little concern, that
these industrious little insects are responsible for most of the fruit
and vegetables which we consume on a daily basis. Something we hate and
fear so much is also extremely valuable to us. Some of the people we
hate and fear are strangers and lepers and, just like bees, they can
bring value to our churches but first we need to go to where they are
because they certainly won't come to us. They have a perception that
the church is full of hypocrites. Hate begets hate and the people who
bash the church the most are the people whom the church has had a
history of turning away. It is simple social physics. hate begets
hate. Energy begets energy.
My sister was a Jehovah's Witness
and instead of going door to door, she spent every day at the parole
shelter assisting the men with transportation, support and navigating
the DSS. She brought over 50 men into her church. Some of them got jobs
and some additionally got married in the church. Many of them brought
skills of construction, plumbing and electrical experience and
volunteered their services to the church and its membership in
appreciation for the kindness, grace and mercy it offered. Energy
begets energy.
I recently attended a one-day retreat where there
was a panel of five clergy who talked about why they chose the church
as their career. A lot of the priests talked about their passion for
Jesus. One priest had an inner city church and talked of her
(Episcopal) passion for the people. At the end of the retreat, the
panelists fielded questions from the assembled. A question was asked
"Is it possible to turn Jesus into a 'Golden Idol?'" The woman priest
said "Absolutely. It is easy to worship the messenger but fail to hear
his message. Just look no further than the Crusades where we killed
people in Jesus' name." The only priest who passed on answering that
question was one from an affluent parish who had admitted to have been
attracted to the church because of his love for liturgy, pageantry,
candles, mystery, couture finery, documents and education. He never
once mentioned people in any of his answers.
It was also
interesting to note that none of the clergy had a eureka moment or were
struck by lightning when they fell in love with church/Jesus/ministry.
They all said it was a gradual process. One salient life moment they all
had in common was that there was one person in each of their lives who
first made an invitation.
I know, strangers can be scary to
approach but some of the greatest saints were murderers first. The only
thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good people to do
nothing. Imagine what could happen if all people did something. Jesus
said in the book of Revelations that if a church is neither hot nor
cold, but lukewarm, it is like spit in his mouth and he will spew it
out. I suspect that many churches today are lukewarm.
We turn
to God when our foundations are shaking only to learn that it is God who
is shaking them. If the foundation of our churches are shaking we can
let the walls crumble around us or we can go out into the world to get
help. So with that in mind, do as St. Vincent de Paul suggests, "If a
needy person requires medicine or other help during your prayer time, do
whatever has to be done with peace of mind. Offer that deed to God as
your prayer. Do not become upset or feel guilty because you use your
prayer time to serve the poor. God is not neglected if you leave him
for real service. You should prefer the service of the poor to making
your prayer. For, it is not enough to love God, if, your neighbor does
not also love God."
-Malcolm Kogut.
