Dear sisters and brothers in Christ,
Over the past several weeks the Congregational Council has been meeting with Pastor Scott Schantzenbach who is the assistant to the bishop of the NJ Synod. Our conversations have been focused on the mission of Zion Evangelical Lutheran in particular and the mission of the Church (notice the big “C!”) in general. These conversations have arisen in part out of the dramatically changing cultural context (academically, the shift has been titled of “The Death of Christendom”) that the Church inhabits and is inhabited by. Attention to the matter of sweeping cultural shifts was signaled by my discussion topic at Zion’s Annual Meeting in January of 2015 regarding worship attendance trends at Zion as well as the Church at large in the US. This meeting prompted a discussion on condensing our Sunday morning schedule to a single service at 10am which was voted on and affirmed at a Special Congregational meeting in April of 2015. Since our initial conversations about the mission of Zion as well as “changing the culture of Zion,” to use the language of Zion’s congregational President, Kevin Brown, the Pew Research Center has published the results of its landmark survey on May 12, 2015 that people who identify themselves as Christians have decreased from 78.4% of the US population in 2007 to 70.6% in 2014; a decline of approximately 8% is a precipitous decline over a 7 year period (a link to the full report can be found here: http://www.pewforum.org/2015/05/12/americas-changing-religious-landscape/). As the survey shows, as well as our apprehension that “The Times They are a-Changin'”, our conversations about mission are timely and essential.
What is the mission of the Church? The mission of the Church can be clarified by asking, “Where is the body of Christ?” Firstly, Jesus as God incarnate is the body of Christ. As Lutherans we confess that the bread of the Lord’s Supper/Eucharist/Communion is the body of Christ. So where is the body of Christ? During worship we pray after the Offering, “Turn our hearts toward those who hunger in any way, that all may know your care,” or, “Nourish us with these gifts, that we might be for the world signs of your gracious presence,” or, “Use us, and what we have gathered in feeding the world with your love.” We pray each week during the Meal section of worship during the Great Thanksgiving, “Raise us up as the body of Christ for the world.” Where is the body of Christ? The Church is named as the body of Christ on the pages of the New Testament (c.f. Romans 12:4-8, 1 Cor. 12:12-27). We, Zion Evangelical Lutheran Church of Rahway, are the body of Christ.
It is important at this point to harken back to the beginning of this piece to the Pew Research survey that listed a precipitous decline in people who self-identify as Christians. What this means is that for most people who have never been to church, stopped going to church, or lost their faith entirely, the only interaction with the body of Christ is us, Christ’s Church. Put another way, we are representatives of what Christianity is, that is those who call themselves disciples of Jesus, and for many people their impression of who Jesus Christ is is contingent on how the people who call themselves part of the Church, that is, us, act and coexist. Thus, the mission of the Church is the witness to what the power of the resurrection of Jesus Christ is for ours, our families, friends, communities, and co-workers lives. Our mission statement says, “Our mission at Zion is to boldly proclaim the Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, inspiring people of all ages to share the love of God in our congregation, our homes, our communities, and throughout the world.” The mission of Zion is to “… boldly proclaim the Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ” to all people.
How might Zion Evangelical Lutheran Church “boldly proclaim the Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ?” The body of Christ, patterned after Jesus’ own self-giving love, is called to love perfectly. Perfect love is probably not what you think it is. You see, perfect love can never exist between two perfect people because love requires both sacrifice and a delicate commitment. If someone is perfect, then what would need sacrificing for the sake of love? Or, what commitment between two perfect people could be called into question? Thus, perfect love is such a love shared between two or more people where at least one person who is either loving or being loved is imperfect. Therefore, perfect love exists when imperfect people love one another. That, dear friends, is the Church. And, just as Christ’s love knows no boundaries, so to should our love know no boundaries because we, being imperfect, love perfectly on account of ours and the world’s imperfections. Thus, regardless of a person’s capabilities, political views, wealth etc… all people, being imperfect, are worthy of a Christian’s love. In fact, the only condition for perfect love is that the people loving are imperfect. Love, true and perfect love, demands “patience, kindness, is neither envious or boastful or arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things (1 Cor. 13:4-7),” even a cross… In traditional “Christian” parlance the recognition of imperfection, be it ourselves or someone else’s, is called repentance. Repentance is a mark of the Church. We, as the body of Christ, struggling to proclaim a Grace which genuinely has no referent in this world, are called to be a repenting Church, cognizant of our own imperfections, yet adamant in testifying to the Grace of the One without fault, Jesus Christ. In summary of this section, Jesus’ love is made perfect because he loves us who are imperfect.
How might Zion Evangelical Lutheran Church “boldly proclaim the Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ?” We proclaim the Grace of Jesus Christ in and through our primary activity, worship. But, it is a reduction of the Grace of Christ to presume that such Grace is proclaimed solely from the pulpit, the sacraments, or other liturgical elements of the service. In fact, the first experience of God’s Grace that a newcomer to Zion experiences is in the form of a greeting, “Hello, welcome to Zion Lutheran Church! Can I help you with anything?” From a visitor’s perspective, what follows such a greeting, from Prelude to a Postlude, is an experience of the body of Christ as a people who worship Jesus. How do Christians worship God? Worship is not confined to the words we say, the confessions we make, the hymns we sing, the Scripture we read, the sermons we co-create in discussion, the prayers we pray, nor the Sacrament which we consume. Worship of God is narrowly defined as “the work of the people.” Worship then is comprised of all the things that I listed above, but it is constituted by perfect love, the work of the people. And, perfect love, as you now know, is created by imperfect people loving God and one another. That, dear friends, is the point and scope of what worship is.
I have to say, “Is it fair to ask that since Christ welcomed all, despite our imperfections, that the Church should also welcome all?” Zion’s welcome statement is summarized in the words of Paul from Romans 15:7, “Therefore welcome all as Christ has welcomed you.” What might welcoming mean? Is welcoming simply another way to say that someone “fits” in here as long as they conform to a collectively held expectation of what a Christian is? If welcome means asking someone to conform to whatever it is that you or I want them to be, then this is not welcome, but colonialism. What if Jesus’ love were imperfect? What if Jesus had asked us to be flawless, patient at all times, and loving at all times before we would be worthy of God’s Grace? I describe Jesus’ love as imperfect love because in this example we would necessarily have to be perfect before God could love us. But, Jesus said, “Be perfect, therefore, as your Father is perfect (Matthew 5:48)” which is meant to convey that the Father’s love of us is perfect because we are loved by God even when we are dead in sin and imperfect(Ephesians 2:5).
As to the mission of the Church, this is why we participate in Operation Warm Heart, not only to see if the Church can love people who are homeless and without resources which provides a medium for perfect love. But also, to see if people who are homeless can finally begin to love and trust once again the Church whose mission is to take care of those in need (Matthew 25) but who have seemingly forgotten this core Christian practice. As to the mission of the Church, this is why we have started a worship service for people with disabilities because we are called to recognize our imperfections, i.e., repent, of forgetting those people whom society and we have forgotten but whom Jesus welcomed. As to the mission of the Church, we have shown this community that we take welcome seriously enough to remove two pews from our sanctuary to make room for the “little children (Matthew 19:14, Luke 18:16, Mark 10:14)” whom Jesus warns us not to keep from coming to him.
It should be clear by now that perfect love and welcome go hand in hand. Welcome, synonymous in this instance with perfect love, means making sacrifices for the sake of another. “Welcoming all as Christ has welcomed us” does not begin and end with the “hello” at the door to the church, but rather, welcoming all is an attitude of Christlike self-sacrifice that pervades all that the Church does. Welcoming, like “perfect love,” demands not only a recognition of our imperfection, thus dispelling any myth of propriety and arrogance, but puts the needs of others above our own, makes us uncomfortable at times, and, in and of itself, is an example of the perfect love that Christ calls us to. Thus, sacrificial worship, where Christians sacrifice their desires/preferences, histories, and even their abilities is the strongest possible medium for proclaiming the Grace of Jesus Christ because in putting other people’s needs before the Church’s – the needs of strangers, impoverished, children, disabled, seniors, divorced persons, addicted etc… – the Church bears witness to God’s Grace in the most powerful and provocative way – we worship God by enacting the Grace that Jesus Christ has shown us, the perfect love created and purveyed by imperfect people to all imperfect others.
The mission of the Church is both obvious and challenging, it is to repent, or recognize ours and others imperfections, and love God and others anyway. It is to love perfectly while simultaneously being trapped and confronted by our imperfections. It is to welcome all by sacrificing those things which prohibit anyone in anyway from coming to Christ. This is our mission. God help us and be with us along the Way.
Grace and peace,
(the very imperfect) Pastor Carmine Pernini
