Sometimes the default positions of individual faith communities or even wider forms of entire church bodies are survival, self-preservation, and scrambling (perhaps even frantically) to figure out whatever trick or cultural trend that can be somehow made more churchy to reel people in to our religious club of sorts; so that we can keep this whole, what is meant to be, meaning-filled operation going for generations to come. Sometimes the default focus is about what we don’t have, or what we used to have, as opposed to the God-ness in our midst. Sometimes such a way of going about ministry can only lead to disappointment and what if’s and shoulda’s/woulda’s/coulda’s, combining for debilitating souls and all-around despairing outlooks on the church for the earthly vista that lies ahead. But sometimes the Resurrection is more than just about lifting physical bodies from nothingness.
Last week was a rather busy, chaotic (although holy chaotic) one at Divinity. It began with a worship that attempted to combine a blessing of a new baptism banner (works of art that hang on sanctuary walls that don’t change often, to say the least) as well as lifting up those in leadership positions on our council and ministry team boards for the upcoming year, knowing that more holy work lies ahead to nourish long-standing members and those we have yet to meet.
It continued with our latest rendition of Vacation Bible School with a food truck party theme: a perfect cultural trend that the youngest of life can relate to, but making a direct connection to the God who will bless them and all of us from the heavenly storefront, as well as from the hands and voices and dedicated work of VBS teachers and volunteers and families and grocery store workers and restaurant staff and public servants and coaches and countless others who venture into our life. And yet, the week wasn’t just about reminding the scores of children about the God who provides for them, but the God who empowers us to provide for others as best we can, as they combined for 604(!) items to be shared with our and the Parma Heights’ food pantries. Sometimes, the youngest of life have a way of reminding us to never relent from the ministry drive of magnifying what we do have to give for the benefit of other just-as-precious children of God.
And then, it all concluded with our first attempt at a neighborhood block party. Something that required immense planning, numerous meetings, walking around entire blocks around the building to share about a church that maybe the resident had no interest in, reaching out to local businesses, connecting with community leaders, and a tremendous amount of doing all we could and hope for the best. It was a trickling of people at the start, as fire trucks and police cruisers (and equine police, too) and salt trucks and people in costumes and many enthusiastic (and hope for the best) Divinity members awaited. And soon enough, more began to show up. More showed up with a curiosity, with a wondering what this random church in the middle of this neighborhood of houses was doing, but even more showed up with an appreciation that such an event was provided for a community to come together amidst stranger-ness and division and not-so-sure-we-can-trust-them galore. More showed up because joy and laughter and awe-ness over the beautiful moments reigned.
Of course, there’s no guarantee whatsoever that we reeled anyone into future pew occupancy on a Saturday evening or Sunday morning. There’s zero promise that it will increase any assurance that whatever Divine-with-human form of church operation will last longer as it stands. But such survival and self-preservation and even desperation is not what God envisions for a community of faith to be centered on anyway. Sometimes the Resurrection is just as much for the church in such moments as it is for anyone else. Sometimes God has a way of being just as much alive in the person who walks onto the grounds for the very first time as the one who knows every square-inch of it. Sometimes God has a way of bringing joy and meaning-filled memories to beautifully lure us away from the stranger-ness and the division, to make us believe that the heavenly storefront has been and is still being opened up by Jesus Christ right here, right now.
So, for all of you, with God’s grace, who made it all possible, thanks be to God for you!
In Christ,
Pastor Brad