Thursday, November 14, 2013

Pentecost 26 C - Luke 21:5-19

Luke 21:5-19
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.

No comments:

Post a Comment