Today begins a three-part series based on scriptures that reflect on topics from
the book, I Am A Church Member by Thom S. Rainer. I learned of this book from
another Pastor in a group of Pastors that I meet with regularly to pray and study
and help one another to faithfully approach the task of preaching. Given that we
just had a class of new members join, I thought it might be a good time to think
about what it means to be the Body of Christ that is the church and individually
members of the same body.
So, pop quiz! Last week we had an insert for the baptism that included all kinds
of stuff from the Book of Order that talked about the things that members do.
Can anyone tell me anything that they remember from that list? It doesn’t have
to be a direct quote, but what are some of the things that members of the
church do? [Members gave various answers.]
Those are some great answers! They all support what Thom Rainer calls “being a
functional member.” In other words, there is no such thing as being an “inactive
member.” That was actually a designation – or type – of membership that used
to be in our Book of Order. It was changed a few years back so that now you are
either an Active Member, the child of an Active Member (or Baptized Member),
or you could be an Affiliate Member if you are living in a different town for a
period of time (like in college).
Before going any further, I do have to through out the caution flag. [A church
member actually throws a yellow flag at me and says, “Zach, isn’t all this talk
about membership a little exclusive?”] Thanks! That’s an excellent point.
Culturally, we can’t help but think of membership apart from the benefits that
we receive because of our efforts. We pay dues. We learn the secret handshake.
We receive social standing when we tell others about the groups to which we
belong. That’s not really what Jesus came to proclaim.
In order to get closer to that proclamation, I’m going to need a little help. Can I
get 7 volunteers? I’d like you to come over here, and we’re going to do what’s
called a “trust fall.” Is everyone in this group alright with that? I’ve preselected
someone to be the person to fall, so you are all going to catch them. I need you
to line up in two rows of three, and one person will be on the end. (I then
instruct the group how to hold their arms out, and I tell the person who will fall
how to hold their arms, how to know when it’s safe to fall, and how to fall(safely.)
Well done! If we were on the ropes course at the Feliciana Retreat and
Conference Center then we would let everyone try and we would talk about it
together. For today, let’s just say that this gets at the core of what it means to be
a member of the church. Everyone has a function (or a role).
Everyone has individual gifts and characteristics and feelings, but we all work
together for the same goal. Our work is more motivated by love for the other
than by self-preservation, and so we are not simply an organization that seeks to
stay alive for its own benefit. We are an organic expression of the presence of
God.
If that’s what we are – an organic expression of the presence of God – then there
is something else that separates us from other organizations. We can’t set it
aside in one place and pick it up in another. If we are the Body of Christ and
individually members of it, then that’s who we are wherever we go.
If we identify as members of First Presbyterian Church, then we take that identity
with us into other places. Being the church is not the same as going to church.
Going to church is a priority that you juggle among other priorities. Being the
church is a mindset. Being the church is the organizing principle that helps us
make sense of all the other priorities.
While the church is certainly larger than our congregation, Thom Rainer makes
the point that you can’t be the church independently. We all need local
expressions of common unity. We need soil to grow in. We need a space in which
to bear fruit.
It’s like this: an old Pastor went to see a member who had not attended in some
time. The member said, “I’m glad you’re here!” and proceeded to complain
about everything from the Pastor’s sermons to the hymn choices to committee
meetings, and on and on about the changes he didn’t like and something the
Session did five years ago. Then he asked the Pastor what he was going to do
about all of these things.
It was a cold day and they had been sitting next to the fireplace. The Pastor took
some tongs and pulled a lump of red hot coal on the hearth. The two sat and
watched as it turned black. The Pastor put it back and it slowly began to glow.
When the Pastor left, the member said, “I’ll see you Sunday.” When he arrived
on Sunday, the Pastor said, “I’m glad you’re here!”What matters in that story is not the idea that the church holds energy and life
and vitality. All of that is in the hands of God alone, yet God has chosen the
church – as fallible as we are – to be the space where God’s providence and love
are most evident.
Did you hear that in the proclamation of the prophet, Joel? Everything begins
with God’s promise of providence and care. Then that care becomes
The pentecostal promise of faith, hope, and love. Through our faith in the promises of
God, we can hear the prophetic, truth-telling questions of children asking us to
be the ones to ensure their lives won’t be cut short by violence and that all life
might be cared for through care of the earth.
Through faith, we can still have hope in all of these things and more. We must
have a sense of hope in order to dream dreams, and we must have a vision
inspired by that same hope in order to make those dreams come true. A vision
like that must be grounded in love for others more than it is in self-preservation.
Love for one another is what binds us together as the Body of Christ. It is this
kind of love that gives, as Paul says, “greater honor to the less honorable
members.”
I have to say that I think that was written to keep us preachers in check. Every
Sunday I get the privilege of proclaiming the Gospel with you, but if you knew the
depth of my sin in the way that Jesus does...let’s just say that Paul wasn’t the
only chief among sinners.
Regardless of my sin or yours, we have been given one another to work it out
together. We have been given this love that makes us physically ache for and
with one another and yet makes our hearts leap with joy for every good thing so
that we might go to the Lord and give thanks in all things.
In doing so we are formed and “Re-formed” as the closest approximation that we
believe we can be to the person and work of Jesus himself. This Jesus is the one
who calls people today – even as he did long ago – to be disciples. With the first
disciples, we recall that he simply got in Peter’s boat to preach. Then Jesus told
Peter to go into deep waters and cast nets that Peter knew would come up
empty. Only, they didn’t.
There in the boat and upon the shore, they praised him and left their nets to
follow him to fish for people. How many of us would do that? I mean, really, how
many of us would just drop our nets without at least saying, “Or...you could help
us find those sweet fishing spots, and we could give some away to the poor!”
It’s actually pretty hard to connect their experience to ours, or at least it is for
me, but I think that if we start by remembering that God is the source of all
things and has promised to provide what we need then we’ll get closer to where
we need to be.
If we can see our membership in the Body of Christ through that same lens – that
it, too, is a gift from God – then I think we’ll get a little closer to where we need
to be. The head-space and heart-space and physical location that we need to be
in is a place of submission before God.
We have to drop our nets of expectation. We have to drop our nets of committee
structures that don’t allow new people in because, well, we tend to meet more in
the hallway or by email than in a time and place that others can actually join. We
have to drop our nets of expectations of others and have real conversations
about what matters to each other. We have to realize that what we say online –
including what we promote or refuse to promote – about and to one another is a
reflection of our faith and gratitude before God.
Mostly, the opportunity before us is the same as it was in the trust fall. It is the
opportunity to realize that even regular and random visitors, the homebound,
and the infant has an active role in the life of our faith community. Even those
that will never come for fear of exclusion or repeat of past sins have a part to
play.
More to the point, though, each of us has an active function as members of the
body. If you aren’t sure about that, think about the question we often ask as a
church. If we weren’t here, what would this community miss? What role do we
fill that would be left open by our absence? How about you? If you aren’t sure,
then let’s find the answer together. Next week we’ll talk a little more about being
church members who seek to unify.
the book, I Am A Church Member by Thom S. Rainer. I learned of this book from
another Pastor in a group of Pastors that I meet with regularly to pray and study
and help one another to faithfully approach the task of preaching. Given that we
just had a class of new members join, I thought it might be a good time to think
about what it means to be the Body of Christ that is the church and individually
members of the same body.
So, pop quiz! Last week we had an insert for the baptism that included all kinds
of stuff from the Book of Order that talked about the things that members do.
Can anyone tell me anything that they remember from that list? It doesn’t have
to be a direct quote, but what are some of the things that members of the
church do? [Members gave various answers.]
Those are some great answers! They all support what Thom Rainer calls “being a
functional member.” In other words, there is no such thing as being an “inactive
member.” That was actually a designation – or type – of membership that used
to be in our Book of Order. It was changed a few years back so that now you are
either an Active Member, the child of an Active Member (or Baptized Member),
or you could be an Affiliate Member if you are living in a different town for a
period of time (like in college).
Before going any further, I do have to through out the caution flag. [A church
member actually throws a yellow flag at me and says, “Zach, isn’t all this talk
about membership a little exclusive?”] Thanks! That’s an excellent point.
Culturally, we can’t help but think of membership apart from the benefits that
we receive because of our efforts. We pay dues. We learn the secret handshake.
We receive social standing when we tell others about the groups to which we
belong. That’s not really what Jesus came to proclaim.
In order to get closer to that proclamation, I’m going to need a little help. Can I
get 7 volunteers? I’d like you to come over here, and we’re going to do what’s
called a “trust fall.” Is everyone in this group alright with that? I’ve preselected
someone to be the person to fall, so you are all going to catch them. I need you
to line up in two rows of three, and one person will be on the end. (I then
instruct the group how to hold their arms out, and I tell the person who will fall
how to hold their arms, how to know when it’s safe to fall, and how to fall(safely.)
Well done! If we were on the ropes course at the Feliciana Retreat and
Conference Center then we would let everyone try and we would talk about it
together. For today, let’s just say that this gets at the core of what it means to be
a member of the church. Everyone has a function (or a role).
Everyone has individual gifts and characteristics and feelings, but we all work
together for the same goal. Our work is more motivated by love for the other
than by self-preservation, and so we are not simply an organization that seeks to
stay alive for its own benefit. We are an organic expression of the presence of
God.
If that’s what we are – an organic expression of the presence of God – then there
is something else that separates us from other organizations. We can’t set it
aside in one place and pick it up in another. If we are the Body of Christ and
individually members of it, then that’s who we are wherever we go.
If we identify as members of First Presbyterian Church, then we take that identity
with us into other places. Being the church is not the same as going to church.
Going to church is a priority that you juggle among other priorities. Being the
church is a mindset. Being the church is the organizing principle that helps us
make sense of all the other priorities.
While the church is certainly larger than our congregation, Thom Rainer makes
the point that you can’t be the church independently. We all need local
expressions of common unity. We need soil to grow in. We need a space in which
to bear fruit.
It’s like this: an old Pastor went to see a member who had not attended in some
time. The member said, “I’m glad you’re here!” and proceeded to complain
about everything from the Pastor’s sermons to the hymn choices to committee
meetings, and on and on about the changes he didn’t like and something the
Session did five years ago. Then he asked the Pastor what he was going to do
about all of these things.
It was a cold day and they had been sitting next to the fireplace. The Pastor took
some tongs and pulled a lump of red hot coal on the hearth. The two sat and
watched as it turned black. The Pastor put it back and it slowly began to glow.
When the Pastor left, the member said, “I’ll see you Sunday.” When he arrived
on Sunday, the Pastor said, “I’m glad you’re here!”What matters in that story is not the idea that the church holds energy and life
and vitality. All of that is in the hands of God alone, yet God has chosen the
church – as fallible as we are – to be the space where God’s providence and love
are most evident.
Did you hear that in the proclamation of the prophet, Joel? Everything begins
with God’s promise of providence and care. Then that care becomes
The pentecostal promise of faith, hope, and love. Through our faith in the promises of
God, we can hear the prophetic, truth-telling questions of children asking us to
be the ones to ensure their lives won’t be cut short by violence and that all life
might be cared for through care of the earth.
Through faith, we can still have hope in all of these things and more. We must
have a sense of hope in order to dream dreams, and we must have a vision
inspired by that same hope in order to make those dreams come true. A vision
like that must be grounded in love for others more than it is in self-preservation.
Love for one another is what binds us together as the Body of Christ. It is this
kind of love that gives, as Paul says, “greater honor to the less honorable
members.”
I have to say that I think that was written to keep us preachers in check. Every
Sunday I get the privilege of proclaiming the Gospel with you, but if you knew the
depth of my sin in the way that Jesus does...let’s just say that Paul wasn’t the
only chief among sinners.
Regardless of my sin or yours, we have been given one another to work it out
together. We have been given this love that makes us physically ache for and
with one another and yet makes our hearts leap with joy for every good thing so
that we might go to the Lord and give thanks in all things.
In doing so we are formed and “Re-formed” as the closest approximation that we
believe we can be to the person and work of Jesus himself. This Jesus is the one
who calls people today – even as he did long ago – to be disciples. With the first
disciples, we recall that he simply got in Peter’s boat to preach. Then Jesus told
Peter to go into deep waters and cast nets that Peter knew would come up
empty. Only, they didn’t.
There in the boat and upon the shore, they praised him and left their nets to
follow him to fish for people. How many of us would do that? I mean, really, how
many of us would just drop our nets without at least saying, “Or...you could help
us find those sweet fishing spots, and we could give some away to the poor!”
It’s actually pretty hard to connect their experience to ours, or at least it is for
me, but I think that if we start by remembering that God is the source of all
things and has promised to provide what we need then we’ll get closer to where
we need to be.
If we can see our membership in the Body of Christ through that same lens – that
it, too, is a gift from God – then I think we’ll get a little closer to where we need
to be. The head-space and heart-space and physical location that we need to be
in is a place of submission before God.
We have to drop our nets of expectation. We have to drop our nets of committee
structures that don’t allow new people in because, well, we tend to meet more in
the hallway or by email than in a time and place that others can actually join. We
have to drop our nets of expectations of others and have real conversations
about what matters to each other. We have to realize that what we say online –
including what we promote or refuse to promote – about and to one another is a
reflection of our faith and gratitude before God.
Mostly, the opportunity before us is the same as it was in the trust fall. It is the
opportunity to realize that even regular and random visitors, the homebound,
and the infant has an active role in the life of our faith community. Even those
that will never come for fear of exclusion or repeat of past sins have a part to
play.
More to the point, though, each of us has an active function as members of the
body. If you aren’t sure about that, think about the question we often ask as a
church. If we weren’t here, what would this community miss? What role do we
fill that would be left open by our absence? How about you? If you aren’t sure,
then let’s find the answer together. Next week we’ll talk a little more about being
church members who seek to unify.
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