Archive for December, 2009
Laity Blog - But We’ve Always Done it That Way!
Thursday, December 10th, 2009 | Uncategorized | No Comments
“Have you ever heard someone in your church say, “But we’ve always done it this way?” We hear this comment and sigh, “Here we go again.” We know the person is going to remind us how things used to be so great and how the church nowadays is just not the same.”
These words were the first paragraph of my devotional one morning last week. They were written by F. Douglas Powe, Jr., a professor of Theology and a member of a United Methodist church in Kansas. Spending as much time as I do working in the United Methodist system, I hear these words a lot. Usually they are spoken in a wistful tone of voice accompanied by big sad eyes and lots of sighing.
My usual response to that statement is something along the lines of, that’s right. We have always done it that way and it is very comforting for those of us who are already here. But what about those people who live in our communities but are still on the outside looking in? Clearly the way we have always done things does not appeal to them because they are not here now! So what is it that we can do that will appeal to our friends and neighbors who do not yet have a relationship with Jesus Christ? How can we take our love of God out of our churches and share it with those around us? What is it about living with Christ as a part of my life that might make other people seek me out to understand my faith?
Earlier this week I had a conversation with a faithful churchwoman who is concerned about the direction her local church is headed. She observed that part of what is wrong with the United Methodist Church today is that we have too many rules. As we talked she said that we should look at the Bible Churches in our communities and see how they are growing and thriving while we are struggling to maintain and build church membership. And you know, she is right! We do have lots of rules and many of the non-denominational churches are growing sometimes in very close proximity to Methodist Churches that are not. So what’s going on?
You’ll be amazed to hear that I have an opinion on this phenomenon! And it is this. For too long United Methodists and maybe members of other mainline Christian churches, have been too complacent, too comfortable, too quiet! As lay people, we have been sitting in our pews and looking to our pastors to build our churches. We go to church on Sunday morning and maybe a couple of other times during the week to be cared for and “loved on.”
Now please don’t get me wrong — I liked to be “loved on!” And I like going to church and loving on others. I like seeing familiar faces when I go to Sunday School, Bible study and worship. I even like to sit in the same place in the sanctuary every week.
But somewhere along the way in the last couple of years it has dawned on me that building this church that I love, that has made such an amazing difference in my life and in the life of my family is my responsibility! And guess what — it’s your responsibility, too.
What do you think it might look like if each day as we get dressed, we wear our love of Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, on the outside, over our clothes so that everyone who sees us realizes that we are different? What if instead of cherishing God’s grace inside, we wear it like one of those little pink ribbons we see during Breast Cancer Awareness month? In my mind it looks like that passage where Paul describes it as “the peace of God, which transcends all understanding…” Philippians 4:7
Just in case you think I’m immune from those “we’ve always done it that way” moments, you need to know that I have been decorating our new house for the past ten days or so. True confession — I have enough Christmas decorations to nicely adorn at least three homes! I love nativity sets and when we travel I often bring one home as my souvenir. And when friends travel, they sometimes bring me one, too. Unique nativities from Africa and Israel occupy pride of place in our home year round. But I also have a clay set that Mary Beth made while she was in kindergarten. And I have a wonderful, “cutesy” nativity set in which all of the characters are bears — it came from Colorado.
But this year, rather than enjoying every minute of unpacking these much loved items, before I got started it felt like a chore. I really had to work up my enthusiasm for the whole project. Tom finally asked me what was wrong and I said, out loud for the first time, “I don’t know where to put anything! In our old house I knew where everything went and I liked it that way!” Of course, I was whining and making big, sad eyes!
You’ll be glad to know that the house is almost finished and I’ve managed to find places for all our favorite things. Wouldn’t it be great if we could do that at church, too?
Showers of Blessings,
Leah Taylor