We crown Jesus king next Sunday, despite his earthly protests.
God resisted the concept of kings until his chosen people demanded one. Kings are an acquired taste!
Kings are a foreign concept to Americans. We read about kings in story books. We respect the monarchs of other countries, but the idea of being a subject under a king that rules by birthright is not easily understood by us.
Yet that is the imagery of today’s scriptures.
Today it wouldn’t be a bad idea to point out what “kingship” entails.
Use a flip chart and start to make a list.
Ask your congregations for words that they might associate with an earthly king.
Add their suggestions to the chart and talk about how the earthly king might correspond to Jesus as King.
Expect words like crown, castle, throne, realm, queen, power, subjects, scepter
Create a little chart, adding the heavenly counterpart to the analogy.
2×2 grew from a small church—Redeemer in East Falls. How small? Well, too small for the ELCA. But big enough for mission.
While we have been locked out of our sanctuary for more than three years, we took on a project of visiting the very people who locked us out for their own enrichment.
We’ve made more than 50 visits. Most congregations appear to be no stronger in numbers or wealth than Redeemer. Several would probably already have been targeted by SEPA Synod for takeover if Redeemer hadn’t been commanding their attention for the last five years. As church experts categorize churches by size, they are either in the family church (under 75 members) or pastoral church (around 150 active members) categories .
A few of the congregations we have visited fall into the next biggest category — the program church.
Program churches are big enough by definition to afford a full-time pastor or two and some additional paid staff. They can offer programs to various segments of the population led by the extra hands they can afford to pay.
There is a stark contrast between these churches and the smaller churches that struggle to compete for pastoral services and attention from the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA).
The difference is initiative. It’s not that larger churches don’t have initiative; it’s just more “programmed.”
We can see it in little things.
In last Sunday’s visit, the pastor used five large objects in his sermon. He introduced them one by one and placed them across the front of the chancel as he talked. When his sermon ended, he walked back and forth across the chancel and removed the objects. He sang a hymn as he did so. But it seemed odd that the vicar sitting nearby didn’t offer to help—nor did the acolyte sitting nest to the vicar. I know that had this been Redeemer, one or two people would have jumped up and helped the pastor prepare for the next part of worship. There is nothing wrong with this, understand. The hymn the pastor was singing as he cleaned up was nice. It just seemed odd.
Where initiative is lacking, so is creativity. It shows in the bulletins of program churches. They invariably have long lists of credits. Who is the greeter, the reader, the usher, the offering counter, the communion assistant, the flower donator, or the nursery assistant for this week and the rest of the month? Just check the bulletin.
Presumably, if it’s not your Sunday to greet people, then there is no reason to greet anyone.
In small churches, every job belongs to every body.
Reading through church newsletters and bulletins of the program-sized churches, there are lists of activities. They are similar to every other program-sized church. Perhaps that’s where church leaders get the notion that closing/consolidating churches is good management.
The things Redeemer does aren’t on any of the lists. No Swahili outreach, no experimentation with the web and social media, very little experimenting in the worship and educational settings, no ambassadors.
Perhaps the promise that they will lose their uniqueness is why small churches resist the management “wisdom” of their leaders.
Perhaps it is why the ELCA and the Southeastern Pennsylvania Synod (SEPA) tend to undervalue their small congregations.
Redeemer is not closed. We are locked out of God’s house by SEPA Synod.
My Dad is not a city person. He is the child of missionaries and a career parish pastor who served in several Pennsylvania small towns and rural communities. Those towns are still too small to support a church according to ELCA experts, but they always supported us.
Retired for the last 20 years, Dad now divides his time between his children. He takes his frequent visits to Philadelphia in stride, despite some measure of culture shock. I was with him in the small towns until I was about 23. Since then, I have lived the rest and majority of my life in cities. I remember my previous “country” life and am aware of differing city ways, which I, too, had to learn. My city-born husband used to scold me for talking to strangers. Today I was reminded of where I got that terrible habit.
My Dad doesn’t know the rules of city life. If he did he wouldn’t care. He talks to everyone he passes. Sometimes people are receptive. Sometimes I catch a look of suspicion in their eyes. More often than not, he is ignored. I explain to him that city people protect their space. He pays no mind.
Today, he accompanied me to the grocery store. As I ordered some cold cuts he attempted to strike up a conversation with the person holding the customer number after mine. I noticed the woman looking at him suspiciously as if his kindness was an intrusion. Her face said, “Who is this old guy and what does he want from me?” Dad didn’t seem to notice, so I caught her eye and made light. “He’s harmless,” I said. “He’s my dad, an old preacher. He talks to everyone.”
She processed this for a second or two. She looked angry. My dad continued to talk to her as if I’d said nothing. Suddenly, she let down her guard and responded. They had a short conversation. I breathed a little easier as I waited for my pound of provolone. As I turned to leave, she commented to me, “This world needs more people like that. It needs them very bad.”
She may be right.
Our Ambassador visits reveal that many pastors lack my dad’s skill in striking up conversations. Some disappear after church. Some go off to a corner to talk to one person—probably a council member. Few show any inclination to circulate among either members or visitors. Have they adopted city ways? Are they living in their own worlds? Does the work of the church trump fellowship? Do they think someone else is going to do the work of evangelism? Are they afraid to tell the Story? Are they too good to talk to strangers? Are they unaware that the entire congregation follows their lead?
I don’t know the answers. But I suspect that talking to people is more likely to grow a church than not.
We need good people in all the standard artistic slots — music directors, choir members, wordsmiths. But there are so many more artistic skills needed.
Visual artists are underused and under-appreciated in today’s church. Painters and artisans used to be so important that their roles in the church were subsidized. That is why even small churches across Europe are filled with beautiful windows, murals and sculptures. This was also the age of great church musicians — the Bachs and Handels. But the love of art extended to things we consider mundane. The doors, furniture and fixtures of small churches built hundreds of years ago were created by artists. Art mattered!
This has been less true in the New World church. Where once we might have commissioned a great tapestry, we now buy from the catalog or fall back on homemade banners, etc. which are nice but would fail to qualify as artistically belonging to the ages.
And then there are the property artists, financial artists, leadership artists.
Many small churches are able to continue ministry because somewhere in their history, some member was an artist in caring for property, making investments or inspiring and rallying people.
In the days before the Church recognized the talents of half the population, small churches often prospered because of the people skills of a pastor’s wife or deaconess. They worked largely unrecognized and poorly compensated (if at all). They used their social gifts to see the potential within the community and instinctively knew how to nurture it. They never had any “power,” so protecting their power was never at issue. They are rarely mentioned in church histories.
Regardless, of the area of expertise, artists thrive on something the Church doesn’t really have much time for — chaos.
Artists are happiest when life is not predictable — when the rules don’t stand in the way of initiative and experimentation.
Many Church leaders have stifled creativity. It was probably not intentional. They may have had the congregation’s best interest (from their point of view) at heart. But church leaders tend to like structure, order, predictability, and comfort. They want their jobs to be easier. They surround themselves with people who complement these goals. They are rarely artists.
This sends creative people already in the Church packing. And those who are not in the Church will sense that they will never be of any use — so why bother.
While we say we are working for change and growth, we are actually judging members by their obedience. Choices will be made based on order, ease and comfort.
In reality, artists and non-artists need to exist together in amiable friction. That’s the spark of life. That’s what’s needed if congregations are ever going to live up to their lofty mission statements.
That’s why in spite of decades of talk about growth, the momentum in the Church is decidedly in the other direction.
The Ambassadors resumed visiting after a month’s hiatus due to obligations of individual Ambassadors. Our busy Ambassadors had afternoon plans today, so we visited the early service of St. Paul’s, Glenside. Two of our ambassadors are familiar with their neighboring church, St. Luke’s, but this was our first visit to the St. Paul’s of the Southeastern Pennsylvania Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.
This was our 51st visit and the fifth (at least) Stewardship Sunday we encountered.
We attended the 8 am service and sat in the lobby listening to the bell choir rehearse for about 15 minutes as we were early. The bell choir was impressive. The 11-member bell choir performed two challenging numbers. A vicar led the liturgy.
A children’s sermon was very short and made a good point for the children but the message seemed to be too short with little to reinforce the message (sharing blessings).
The stewardship sermon for adults talked about keeping balance in our faith lives and mentioned about five things that stand in the way of stewardship. When these five things are out of whack, Rev. Henrik Sonntag said, our stewardship lives suffer. Several of them seemed to define the problems Redeemer has with SEPA/ELCA. The Synod’s FINANCES ($275,000 deficit budget) led them to poor stewardship choices in their poor RELATIONSHIPS with our congregation. He then talked about embracing the cross of Christ as a remedy and as a restorer of balance. We agree. We’ve been reading scripture for five years that point to what is going on in East Falls at the hands of SEPA Synod with the approval of its clergy and member churches as wrong, wrong, wrong. But the hope of this synod embracing their message to reach a good resolution seems to be dim. It’s not the first good sermon we’ve heard that seemed to meet with a disconnect between theory and practice. But as Stewardship Semons go, it was one of the better ones.
The service followed a standard liturgy, the organ was well-played but too loud for the size of the congregation. We couldn’t hear the congregation to figure out which verse they were on. Attendance was about 50. Two children and one youth (the acolyte). The make-up of the congregation seemed to be homogenous as are most of the churches we visit. We returned to the 11 am service to retrieve a forgotten hat and the second service seemed to be better attended.
A woman spoke after church of the congregation’s participation in feeding the homeless. She acknowledged the volunteers who participated in the project.
Church was followed by an impressive fellowship spread. We stayed for a few minutes, but not a soul spoke to us.
We retired to the Moonlight Diner for our own Sunday fellowship.
In days long gone by, the deans of a synod served uncompensated. It was their leadership contribution to their Church. In today’s ELCA, at least in the Southeastern Pennsylvania Synod, the deans are paid. Not much—but even a penny is influence.
Deans are supposed to serve a cluster of congregations as liaisons between the regional office and the congregation. Unpaid, they represent the congregations. Paid, they are arms of the synod.
Consequently, the congregations have very little access to the regional office except through the clergy — if they have clergy. The interdependence that defines the Lutheran church structure depends on communication between the congregations and the regional office and national church, which the cluster/conference and dean system is supposed to facilitate. With the leader of the clusters on the synod payroll, the integrity of the system is compromised. Forums for the interchange of interdependent thinking are muzzled.
When a dispute occurs, where can the congregations turn? Nowhere!
And so disputes, which the Church could and should handle themselves, spill into the secular courts.
It is an ethical dilemma that is largely unrecognized. Without an independent intermediary, this is unlikely to be addressed.
Recommendation: Don’t pay the deans. Allow them to be the voice of the congregations — as they are supposed to be. It won’t hurt them to serve the church the way they expect lay people to serve the church. It would help reestablish trust — and interdependence.
Today’s object is a jack-in-the-box. This remains a popular toy despite its low tech nature. It is a variation of the even less technical peek-a-boo game—the first game parents play with their infants.
Children’s games evolve as we get older. Peek-a-boo becomes hide and seek. Hide and seek becomes Find Waldo. Find Waldo has its online variations.
The games are all about expectations. We are willing to risk some temporary discomfort for the anticipated reward.
That’s what today’s lessons are about—coping with a sense of despair with the hope of something better. Apocalyptic scripture is all about a promised end for those who endure the uncertainties of the day. Hope is a common denominator.
Hope is what makes us work for a better life. Hope is what makes us laugh. An unpredicted turn of phrase or action that goes against what is anticipated is the foundation of humor. Hope is what makes us believe.
Babies play this game, the disciples played this game, and we play this game.
So turn the handle on the jack in the box and experience hope and anticipation with its fulfillment (however silly)—again and again and again. It will strengthen you for bigger dreams.
That’s when we find out how well you make decisions.
When you don’t have the resources to do it the usual way, that’s when you show us how resourceful you are.
And when you don’t know if it’s going to work, that’s how we find out whether or not we need you on our team.
Every small church is in this position. Many are finding out that they don’t need to structure their “team” quite the way they have in the past.
The “dead wood” (a term one pastor used in a comment on this site in reference to small churches that the synod wanted to close) may not be the congregations. If you are going to assess interdependent ministries, look for dead wood in all the interdependent branches.
We suspect you’ll find some withering main branches.
Small churches are finding that not only do they not need them on their team but they have been playing without their support for years.
The Church, more than any other organization, save perhaps environmentalist groups, dwells on the concept of stewardship.
Sometimes we use the word interchangeably with offerings and donations, but we know it is more than that.
Stewardship is the conscious and wise use of resources. Too often we view only the property and financial assets in our thinking.
Measuring stewardship is a problem, especially when you don’t know what to measure.
Measuring stewardship leads to harsh judgments — often by people who are, themselves, stewardship-challenged. We are tempted to assume that we somehow have a right to judge who is the best determiner of when, where, and how resources are put to best use.
This can be tricky even for Christians without a horse in the race! Is the same $50,000 better used by a small congregation with 100 members or would it be better used to the Glory of God if a corporate church managed that money—or take the resources entirely out of the hands of the people who donated the resources. Let your regional body make the decisions.
Any organization of any size can use resources wisely or foolishly. Perhaps this is why the founders of the ELCA placed the determination of the use of resources in the hands of the congregations from whom the gifts were collected.
But let’s shift gears.
What if we stopped thinking of stewardship as the use of tangible resources?
What if we started thinking in terms of the intellectual property of the Church?
Let’s call it the Stewardship of Possibilities.
The concept is biblical. Jesus turned the attention of the disciples away from the pursuit of riches or status at every turn. Time after time, he directed them to possibilities. Unheard of possibilities. Away from “safe” investments. There is even a parable about it!
With the Stewardship of Possibilities, lame people could walk again. The blind could see. The hungry could be fed. Tax collectors could be honest. Fishermen could lead. People living in sin could turn their lives around. Children, women, foreigners mattered!
Instead of looking at our small churches with a message of impossibility, help them determine what is possible with the resources they have — all the resources—not just the endowment and offering plate.
Other things to consider:
The location of the property
The talents of the members
The creativity and ingenuity present in the congregation
Special skills in the congregation
The congregation’s spiritual life
The reputation of the congregation in the community. (Business calls it good will and puts a price on it!)
The relationships with civic and service organizations fostered over time
The stamina of the congregation (Can they weather a storm and work together?)
The potential
The faith and belief that all things are possible
These are things you can’t put in the bank. But you can bank on them.
Join Bishop Ruby Kinisa as she visits small churches "under cover" to learn what people would never share if they knew they were talking to their bishop.
Undercover Bishop will always be available in PDF form on 2x2virtualchurch.com for FREE.
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For bulk copies, please contact 2x2: creation@dca.net.
Contact Info
You can reach
Judy Gotwald,
the moderator of 2x2,
at
creation@dca.net
or 215 605 8774
Redeemer’s Prayer
We were all once strangers, the weakest, the outcasts, until someone came to our defense, included us, empowered us, reconciled us (1 Cor. 2; Eph. 2).
2×2 Sections
Where in the World is 2×2?
On Isaiah 30:15b
Be calm. Wait. Wait. Commit your cause to God. He will make it succeed. Look for Him a little at a time. Wait. Wait. But since this waiting seems long to the flesh and appears like death, the flesh always wavers. But keep faith. Patience will overcome wickedness.
—Martin Luther
Daniel 7:9-10, 13-14 • 2 Samuel 23:1-7 •
Kings are a foreign concept to Americans. We read about kings in story books. We respect the monarchs of other countries, but the idea of being a subject under a king that rules by birthright is not easily understood by us.
