A Broken Church

The Church is broken.

(Which isn't a bad thing. It's just not broken in the right way.)

I am amazed at how hard the institution of the Church fights to remain whole and viable. "Unity" is the rallying cry as thousands of years of divisions within the church are officially healed, by legal sounding documents. Synod leadership rushes around to put out the smoldering fires in disgruntled congregations. Congregations face the shame and embarrassment of shrinking membership and the worry of unmet budgets. They begin to make decisions based not on who can be served but who can serve them in their attempt to stay open.

To be sure, there are many good things happening in the church and we can spend out time showing and telling what marvelous things God is doing through us. But you can also focus on the various pieces of a broken tea cup without mentioning that it is broken. You can talk about how well designed and useful the handle is and how it is secured to the cup. You can describe the way the base sits flat and true and how we designed that base together. You can keep your attention on the smooth porcelain finish and make a case that none of us could afford a tea cup this good by ourselves. But if you never step back and look at the condition of the whole tea cup you might never understand that it is broken.

I ran across this video clip by CNN about a Christian congregation in Texas that put up a billboard proclaiming that they (Christians) were a bunch of jerks. What I find interesting is the commentary by guest Gabe Lyons about the way the Christian church is perceived in our culture and how people are working to change it.

I'm sorry I can't embed the video in the blog. Restrictions of a free service I suppose.
or you can watch the video in the right column for a time.

Truth be told, the Church is supposed to be broken. In communion we actually celebrate that the body of Christ is "broken for you." In the Gospel of John, when the resurrected Jesus appeared to the disciples in a locked room and showed them his wounds; his broken body. They could even put their finger inside the mark of the nails. If the Church is the Body of Christ as Paul suggests in this letters (and as the entirety of scripture points to) then the Church is supposed to be broken.

The problem is that the Church is not broken "for you." It's broken exactly because it is no longer "for you." The church has become a place that is "for me." Divisions happen when people feel that the church no longer agrees with their opinions. When I can't be comfortable in my own pew (every pun intended) I find something to fault and build a theological case around it. The God that created everything is never given the chance to do anything new but is restricted to literal interpretations of past actions.

For the Church to be whole and at peace (shalom) again it needs to be broken. The Church needs to die so that it can be raised as a new creation. We need to sacrifice those Church things that give us the most comfort: Sunday mornings, low-commitment serving opportunities, drop-in visits with the pastor, soft seats and spacious fellowship areas, favorite musical genres and "the way we've always done it."

When the Church quits trying to be a church and becomes the Body of Christ it will be broken. But that is the way it is supposed to be.

Waters of Life, Waters of Death

Holy God, holy and merciful, holy and mighty,

    you are the river of life,

    you are the everlasting wellspring,

    you are the fire of rebirth.

Glory to you for oceans and lakes, for rivers and creeks.

Honor to you for cloud and rain, for dew and snow.

Your waters are below us, around us, above us:

    our life is born in you.

You are the fountain of resurrection.

At this font, holy God, we pray:

Breathe your Spirit into this water,

    and into all who come here to find new life.

Illumine our days.

Enliven our bones.

Dry our tears.

Wash away the sin within us,

    and drown the evil around us.

Satisfy all our thirst with your eternal fountain,

    and bring to birth the body of Christ,

    who lives with you and the Holy Spirit,

    one God, now and forever.  Amen

Several years ago I found this prayer online when the ELCA was developing the new Evangelical Lutheran Worship hymnal. We use this prayer when someone is baptized. I think the images capture the breadth of what water means to those who live on this planet. We are surrounded by water. We are made of water. Water is Life. It should not be surprising that New Life is found in the water-rich sacrament of baptism.

I have lived a majority of my life in the upper-Midwest where water is abundant. I know the two faces of water well. I've played in the clear, cold waves of the Great Lakes and have heard the stories of winter-storm waves that swallow large ships. I've stood on the banks of the Mississippi peacefully flowing by and I've watched it overflow and wash away farms and homes. I've fished the crystal-clean spring-fed lakes of Michigan, Wisconsin and Minnesota in summer and have seen the rusted remains of vehicles that fell through the winter ice. I been in blizzards and then gazed in wonder the next day at the beauty and stillness of a winter-white landscape. I've been pelted by hail and run for cover only to emerge as the storm passes to stand in the soft rain and see a rainbow color the sky.

Water brings life. Water brings death. 

We will never change this fact. But we can change the fact that so many people get sick and/or die because of the lack of clean water. Here are some things that I have done in the past year to help conserve clean water and to help others find it:

1. At Christmas I asked people to make a donation to a water charity in place of giving me a gift. Almost $400 was given and I didn't miss a thing.
2. I received a reusable, thermal water bottle and I fill it with filtered tap water from home. I have reduced my consumption of bottled water to less than 24 (compared to the 200 bottles/year for the average American)
3. I reduced the water I use when I shower by turning off the water when I lather up and then turn it back on when I rinse. This is way easier in the summer than in the winter.
4. My wife and I are installing a 50 gallon rain barrel to collect rainwater from the roof to be used to water the flower beds. We might make it 2.
5. I joined the high school youth in leading the congregation to provide over $10,000 to charity: water; a non-profit organization. This money will make it possible for water wells to be drilled in 2 villages where the people do not have access to clean drinking water. We also used the time to raise awareness of water issues locally and around the world.

When I think about it, this isn't very much and I've hardly noticed a difference in my life at all. But if each of us did 5 small things to make a difference it would have a huge impact. 

Are you willing to do something to tip the scales in favor of water that brings life?


For more blogs on the issue of water go to the Blog Action Day Website.

Signs of a Decaying System

I reported for jury duty yesterday morning at the district courthouse. This is the second time that I have been asked to serve as a potential jurist. The first time I was called I served on a jury in a criminal trial which went to verdict. This time, I was selected as part of the 20 member panel questioned for selection in a civil case but, in the end, was not chosen as one of the eight jury members.

I'm glad I wasn't chosen. We were told that presentation of the testimony and evidence was expected to last four days. That would have been a major inconvenience but I don't mind being inconvenienced if I am doing something worthwhile. I'm glad that I wasn't chosen because I started to see signs of a decaying justice system sitting in the courtroom in front of me.

As part of the jury selection system, each party gets to have their lawyer ask questions of the jury to ensure that people who can follow the letter of the law and not let their presuppositions or personal opinions get in the way. This practice is admirable and, if taken in a vacuum where everything else is equal, would be ideal. But it isn't. Sitting in a room with 40-50 strangers and being asked to answer philosophical questions about the legal system with no time for reflection is a daunting task. It's way easier to say, "I don't have an opinion," or "I'm okay with that," rather than try to articulate what you might really think.

Do I think that a citizen is entitled to sue someone for damages if they have been wronged?

How do I answer that question? A simple, "Yes," or "No," doesn't come close to the nuance that is needed in a system as complex as the legal system in the US. Yes, I believe that a citizen should have the rights and the protections to sue someone who has caused harm through negligence or willfulness. Being compensated for medical costs and lost wages seems fair.

But accidents happen. In hind-sight it is easy to say, "You could have been more careful." But that is not negligence.The protection we need is from those who show a pattern of negligence, which is a criminal issue in my mind, not a civil issue.

As I sat through the questioning I also discovered that I have some real issues with awarding  punitive damages or compensation for pain and suffering. Money will not bring healing or wholeness to the person who is hurt. I've met happy people who are rich and happy people who are poor. I've met unhappy people who are rich and unhappy people who are poor. Money has nothing to do with happiness. We just think it does. Asking for more than what you have legitimately lost is simple greed and shows that you don't care about the other party. I understand this feeling of revenge but I don't think it has any place in our courtroom.

Awarding someone hundreds of thousands or millions of dollars as compensation for their suffering doesn't help the victim it only punishes the defendant. If the defendant is guilty of wrongdoing, that is a criminal case. If they are guilty of wrongdoing but not breaking the law, that is a legislative issue, not a justice issue.

In the end I was not chosen to be on the jury. I was relieved that I wouldn't have to wrestle with these beliefs in a courtroom where the law says that it is okay for these things to happen. The fact that the justice system ends up doing the job of the legislative system tells me that both systems are mucked up. When prospective jurists have to be vetted as to whether or not their belief in the law will get in the way of being fair to all parties tells me the people inside the system know the system is breaking down.

Perhaps we do have the best legal system in the world, and the most fair. But that shouldn't stop us from working to make it even better.

The Real Cultural War

For a couple of years now I have been hearing the phrase "Culture Wars" in the media. As far as I could tell it was used to describe the friction that exists between people with different visions for the way society should be shaped. More specifically it was used in reference to politics in the United States and was used primarily by conservative news pundits and politicians to raise the anxiety of voters. (Which isn't to say that liberal/progressive news pundits and politicians don't the same sort of  thing. I just don't recall them using the term Culture War.)

What I find most interesting is that when we think about different cultures we most often think about people of different lands and traditions. So I am not surprised when I hear about clashes between Muslims and Christians. There is nothing new here. People of different lands, ethnicities and religions have been fighting since before there was a way to record the events.

But the Culture War that is raging today has little to do with borders, ethnic backgrounds or faith. The Culture War that is going on today is about the difference between a technologically based culture (in some places called postmodern culture) and the industrial based culture that began almost 500 years ago (currently called the modern culture). In this borderless war we people of the same nation, same religion and the same ethnic background at odds with each other. We also see people of different nations, backgrounds and faiths fighting for what basically amounts to be the same thing.

The Tea Party movement currently getting attention in the United States has highlighted the depths of emotion and concern of many people who feel that society is no longer being shaped by their values. These values are sometimes called "family values" or "faith values." They want laws, politicians and even judges to reflect these values. Senator Jim DeMint (R-SC) recently defended his 2004 claims that if someone is openly homosexual or an unmarried woman who is sleeping with her boyfriend, they should not be school teachers since they obviously don't share the same values as his voters do. He said people "don't want government purging their rights and their freedom to religion.” In his understanding, a person's freedom [of] religion is not just a freedom to worship but goes so far as to include creating laws and moral codes based on their religious values.

This is basically the same thing that conservative Muslims are concerned with.  Certain groups within the Islamic community want laws in every place to reflect their personal values. Sharia law is based on these conservative values of Islamic faith. Those in the Tea Party movement and fundamentalist Muslims both want the same thing: A society based on their particular values. To be sure, there would be significant differences between a society based on Tea Party values and one based on conservative Muslim values but the general desire is the same.

What both groups are really fighting are the cultural changes that are taking place as a new culture emerges. This new, technologically based culture makes us more aware of the diversity of our world. It requires us to be tolerant of a much greater range of people and ideas. It is a culture that has to make room for multiple value sets and calls on us to be more knowledgeable of many faith customs. And currently it is a culture that has not taken full form yet.

It is, perhaps, the ambiguity and the lack of clarity that is causing the most anxiety. But this is a one sided war. The emerging culture is not fighting back directly but is steadily moving forward. In the long run it will win and in many ways has already won. Both the Tea Party and conservative Muslim movements use and depend on the very technology that is undermining their deepest desires.