Demystifying the Church
Demystifying the Church
There is a new reality in the life of the church today. We are finding people coming to be part of our community for whom there is little or no history with the church in a formal way. Unlike the people of my generation – and generations before that – there are many things that we take for granted that may seem strange or curious to newcomers.
The very simple thing of how we worship can be a mystery. Why do we have a call to worship when we are already gathered in the place where worship is held? Why do we have a prayer of adoration followed by a prayer of confession? Why do we have a psalm as our responsive reading? And why do we have long sermons? The form that our worship takes is based on a formula created thousands of years ago and finds its origins in the Sabbath worship of the synagogues. It was given further shape by the Reformers of the 15th century. And as much as we have made attempts to change the formula, we tend to stick to the pattern. Of course the pattern at its very basic is important for it helps us as a people to focus our thoughts and open our spirits to the presence and mind of God.
The call to worship is meant to draw us from the conversations with one another as individuals to focus us on the time we are going to spend as a body of believers in worship.
We then focus on seeking for the presence of God to be with us by a prayer that reminds us of our relationship to God – how we are blessed by God and how we are ever in need of the grace, love and forgiveness of God. We remind ourselves that we are not perfect but that the reason we confess our sins – both individual and corporate – is so that we can once again be reminded that God forgives us and ever seeks to help us in our lives.
In what has come to be the modern era of the church, sermons have remained with us in the Protestant tradition. The purpose is to be a vehicle for teaching the lessons of Scripture and encouraging us in our discipleship to God in Jesus Christ.
The receiving of an offering is meant to remind us that we have a responsibility as the people of God to not only maintain a place where we can gather as a community for worship, fellowship, study and service but that we also hold a responsibility to reach out to the community and the world around us. Offerings are given in response to needs but also as a means of showing our gratitude for the love of God in our lives.
Music is – for many people – one of the best parts of worship. Even for those who do not believe themselves to be musical or good singers, music helps to lift our spirits and causes us to ponder truths of the faith.
But while these are the elements of a worship service, the actual expression of these elements varies from community to community. That is because the time of worship that a community celebrates needs to be responsive to and meaningful for the community as a whole. And so as Presbyterians we have books with service orders, but there is no one way prescribed for Presbyterians to worship.
But how are decisions made about what happens in our worship? In some churches there are committees; in others it is the minister and choir director; but however it happens, the people in the whole community need to be involved for it does no one any real good to worship in a vacuum. Suggestions for what to sing; suggestions for messages; suggestions for prayers; suggestions for services on special themes; in all of these it is important for the community at large to be involved. After all, this is to be the community’s time to worship, study, and pray. And so I encourage each of you to make suggestions that those in leadership may be more responsive to the needs you find in your lives.
One of the other curiosities of the modern church today is that many people who are coming to our churches are puzzled by the whole issue of church membership. I have been in church communities from an early age and in the Presbyterian denomination for most of that time. The movement toward membership in the Church was seen as a natural progression in our commitment. We would progress through Sunday school, Youth Bible Class and then to classes with the minister. We would then be received as communicant members in the Church. You see, back then you couldn’t participate in communion unless you had made declared yourself to be a communicant member of the church. Back then we used to fence the table. Anyone who had not formally declared their faith in God before the whole congregation was not permitted to participate in the sacrament. You were also not allowed to have your children baptized.
The belief was that you needed to publicly acknowledge your faith and declare yourself as a member of the covenant of believers. Such a declaration entitled you to be elected as a ruling elder in the church – if you were so called to be one – and it entitled you to vote in the calling of a minister to the church. In fact all positions of leadership within the congregation required you to be a professing or communicant member.
Today we no longer fence the table. Children are welcome to participate in the communion. No longer is it seen as a rite of passage but rather a rite of the community as a whole. And since the baptism of a child is the sign and seal of the child’s reception as a member of the community, it seems inappropriate to deny that child any experience of the community’s life as a whole.
But if we no longer fence the table; if we no longer have special rules around communion; if baptism is the sign of our reception into the community of faith and the church and marks us as God’s people; then what of church membership?
Church membership becomes more than just graduating out of Sunday school or becoming an adult. Church membership needs to become more than just being a card-carrying believer, more than just a means of getting a voting card.
Church membership needs to really be focused on discipleship. Church membership needs to be a vow that we make to be supportive of one another in our community of faith; it needs to be a sign that we will do everything we can to encourage and help one another; it needs to be a sign that we will dedicate ourselves financially and physically to the work, worship and service of this community or any community in which we find ourselves.
Joining the church made real sense in the days gone by. Back then you never really were a part of the church until you made that public covenant. Nowadays we welcome people within the church and encourage them to be part of all we do without asking for their membership card.
Perhaps we should be thinking in terms of reaffirming our faith. When we come to a community of faith and find that it is a place we want to be part of, we can approach the leaders and say to them: We want to reaffirm our faith in God and declare to all of you in a public way that we believe in God and that we commit ourselves to being an active part of this community of faith.
Perhaps this will make more sense to people of this day and age and perhaps this will encourage more people to see church membership and life as a celebration of faith and life!