I
am grateful for the attention National Public Radio and others have given Kyrie
or the “Church in a Pub” that is supported by Calvary Lutheran and Trinity Lutheran
but I think the headline “To Stave Off Decline, Churches Attract New Members
With Beer” is misleading. First of all decline is nothing new to Christianity as
times of decline and subsequent revival are the reality for both the individual
and the collective experience of the faith. Secondly using beer to connect people
with Bible will not stave off anything as humans tend to have short attention
spans for all things secular and spiritual. And lastly none of it matters when
one considers these words of Jesus. The temple was the center of the universe,
the footstool of God, so that “not one stone left upon another” was beyond the ability
of his disciples to understand or accept. What if our physical expression of the
faith, seemingly as solid as the ancient temple, is just as temporary? Don’t
get me wrong. The institution of church, like the temple, has done marvelous things
and I would not be where I am without the gift of Lutheran church and school
and seminary. More importantly the message of Christianity mobilized into
mission continues to live out the vision of God to make the present look more
like the forever future. But if we think the present structures are permanent
we have missed the point.
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