Sermon: A Home For Us All
In this big, wide world, it’s not
easy to find a place that feels like home. ‘Home’ evokes a sense of security, a
sense of intimacy, a sense of peace and comfort. When people come to church,
they find these important, life-sustaining values here in this community.
Last Sunday, some of us were hurt
and all of us were distressed by the events that unfolded at t the
congregational meeting. We were reminded that only church members could vote
upon certain matters, such as making decisions about pastoral issues, including
the acceptance of the JNAC report. That news was upsetting; some who have
attended church regularly for years were told they are not ‘members’. What
happens when you find a home, find a family in this church, and are told that
you cannot take part in decisions that are vital to the church, because you are
not a member? It hurts - the place you think of as home turns out to have rooms
you are barred from entering. When people come to this church, what they are
doing is hoping – hoping that they may find their spiritual home here. They are
seeking a place where they belong, the assurance that they have found the
‘right’ place.
The message that some people got
last Sunday and felt hurt by hearing was “You don’t belong here. This is not
your home.”
That is a terrible message to
hear.
I understand how painful last
Sunday was for many of us, how hard that message of exclusion sounded. Over the
week, I started to wonder how the notion of ‘membership’ sounds to you.
We see these signs quite often –
“Private Property. Members Parking Only.”
This Friday, in the last minutes
before I took my older son, Peace, to school, I decided to send him to an
after-school programme as I was fairly behind in my work. Unfortunately, the after-school
programme where Peace usually goes was closed that day. So I contacted a
different after-school care facility which Peace had attended a year ago, and
was told that I would have to pay the fee for the afternoon, plus renew
my membership and pay an additional annual fee for this year. I felt the sting
of my lapsed membership - I hadn’t really understood the cost of not
belonging before that moment.
These days, membership is
everywhere. When I open my wallet it is full of membership cards: gas station
membership cards, air mileage membership cards, grocery store membership cards,
all these cards that promise savings and special privileges.
Even kids enjoy the privileges of
clubs - one day Peace told me that he planned to save some money. When I asked
what the money was for, he said, “To buy a one-year membership in Club
Penguin.” ( an on-line video game for children). You don’t need to be a member
to play online at Club Penguin, but membership opens levels that aren’t
available to the casual visitor.
Membership may mean more savings,
extra privileges. Sometimes it can mean extra cost or expectations of service -
ask anyone who has ever been in Scouts or Guides. But that word - membership -
is part of a language of inclusion and exclusion and privilege and
disprivilege. Most institutionalized organizations have a membership policy, a
clear line between who’s inside and who is outside. And yet, with church -
there’s no sign on the door stating, ‘Members only, please.” There’s no policy
of “One trial visit before you join” - the doors are wide open for everyone to
come in.
The church is, historically,
practically the definition of an ‘institutionalized organization’ - it’s an
institution that has been around for more than two thousand years. And yet,
people still come, people still stay, even young people, because they have
experienced and sensed that something new is beginning in this institution –
something positive that is less-organized, less-institutionalized, less strict,
less doctrinal. They see in us a small community that provides a sense of
home, hospitality, of warmth and spirits questing together for the truth - for
God.
Then, last Sunday, the dismaying
news: this church is still an institution. It has rules. Most of those rules are
helpful for oversight and governance, yet, we believe that something must be
changed. Maybe there should be no line, no privilege, no entry gate, no barrier
of membership in the church.
So here are three questions for
us to ask and consider as we continue to study about membership -
Should membership convey exclusive
privileges?
Does membership cause a division
in our ecumenical spirit? Isn’t it that when we are once baptized and affirm
our faith, we belong to the Universal
Church
Does membership mean an
institutional, territorial, old-fashioned concept of Christendom?
If we close our minds and do not
study and learn and explore about a new possible interpretation for the idea of
membership, membership will continue to be a barrier and a division.
However, if we study together and
explore together to apply a new interpretation of membership, maybe new
possibilities may open for us and allow us passage to a more positive,
inclusive future.
This is what today’s Gospel shows
us; when Jesus sensed that the two of the disciples of John the Baptist were
following him, he turned around and said to them, “What are you looking for?”
They said to him, “Teacher, where are you staying?” Jesus said to them, “Come
and see.”
Come and see what? He is telling
the two disciples to focus on what is possible in Jesus’s new ministry
rather than focusing on what is predictable.
One of our church members looked
for the word ‘Membership’ in Collin’s Dictionary, and, he told others later,
found that the root of the word is member which means ‘part.’
Our new era of Christianity is
asking us to imagine ourselves, a Christian community, as a living environment,
a living organism, like a garden, a forest, a stream. Rather than focusing on maintenance
or management, the smooth functioning of church work and church governance, we
could focus on nurturing the culture of the congregational community, leading
adaptive change and modeling ourselves upon the ‘radical hospitality’ of Jesus’
ministry.
Membership does not necessarily
have to mean barriers, walls, voter privilege, entry gates.
With a new interpretation,
membership can mean invitation and response which shares joy as well as
responsibility – we nurture this family of God to be healthy, alive and
sustenance for spiritual growth, together.
For example - what MCC Toronto (Metropolitan Community Church in Toronto) requires from candidate members:
* input, vision ("what kind of community do you dream of...)
* engagement in team ministry (volunteer position)
* making a financial pledge, even though it may be $ 1 per year
Member means ‘a part.’ Being a
member is good. It is making our belonging ‘official’, no matter whether
we are a long-familiar face in the pews or a new one. And we celebrate it with
a warm and affirmative welcome.
(The
colourful stoles on the table)
See, here are 6 different stoles
- they’re really colourful, aren’t they? The arbutus stole is from our
Chemainus congregation, and the rest of them just arrived from Korea
Let’s say you were baptised in or
you were a member of or you used to attend a different church of a different
denomination. You have professed your faith in the other denomination. That’s
all right. If you used to be green, now you go to the church of the red – I
like red – it’s the colour of Pentecost, Spirit – let’s say, we are red. It’s
all right. You are Christ’s own. Your identity as Christ’s own, never goes
away. Whether you wear green or red or purple, you are you. Jesus Christ has
welcomed you, accepted you, and transformed you forever as His own; that
doesn’t change with the colour you wear. But once you have put on a particular
colour of the community, (pick one stole and put it on), by being a member,
it’s different from just looking to actually wearing them on your shoulders.
You are commissioned by God to serve this congregation and the whole of God’s
people as your neighbours, as your family. You become a part of this particular
colour, of this particular rhythm, of this particular history of the living
system. By being a member, we choose to be ‘part’ of the particular choice, and
we continue to be part of the larger whole family of colours, to do amazing
things together, to live wonder and to reflect God’s amazing light of
diversity, together. Amen.
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