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Evangelical Catholicism Pt IV: Why have churches shrunk?
Discussion Thought of the Day:
“If a robust Evangelical Catholicism, formed by Word and Sacrament to take the Gospel of truth and love “into the deep” of the modern and postmodern world, is the deeply reformed Church to which the entire trajectory of Catholic development from Leo XIII to Benedict XVI points, and which the Second Vatican Council envisioned, then the great postconciliar failure of Catholicism— the collapse of the Church in Christianity’s historical heartland, Western Europe— comes into sharper focus. Western European Catholicism’s demise was not, it becomes clear, the result of an internal civil war between Catholic progressives and Catholic traditionalists. Nor are the prescriptions of either of these exhausted camps likely to lead to revival and reform in the future. The Church in Europe has been in free fall throughout the postconciliar years because too many of its people ceased to believe that the Gospel is true. The crisis of Catholicism in Europe did not come about because the institutional Church faltered and its people subsequently bailed out. The crisis came because the people of the Church (including the clergy) ceased to believe with passion and conviction, ceased to find joy in the presence of the Lord— and sought their happiness elsewhere. Because of that, the institution (which in some countries, such as Germany and Italy, remains extremely wealthy) faltered— and seems to be collapsing in the first quarter of the twenty-first century. The Catholic future in Europe lies not in managerial reforms (although those are needed), but in a renaissance of faith, which will likely come (as such things often do) from outside the formal structures of Catholic life (i.e., parishes and dioceses) and from within renewal movements and new forms of Catholic community. There, the vision of Evangelical Catholicism is alive. And if that vision attains critical mass, following the authentic promptings of the Holy Spirit, it may eventually reform— and transform— the institutional Church.” (1)
What I read above, though directed at the Roman Catholic Church by one of its own, I believe is equally true for all churches and all denominations and especially my Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod.
It’s not a matter a matter of who is right in the worship wars, or the supposed division of being faithful versus being missional. It doesn’t have to do, as much as we think it might – with who is in power, for I think that where the gospel is preached and the sacraments are administer – that is where the church is. The hierarchy exists to serve – to be a blessing to the people, as they serve the sacraments and are nothing but conduits through which God’s love and mercy flows. And I have seen both churches that are contemporary, and that are high liturgical and that are 1950’s dream churches – that all are growing – and that all are failing to reach their community. (Recently in Rome, I saw a church filled with people for a high Latin Mass – all of the with great joy as they looked to the sacrament.) As Wiegel notes – we can reform all our admin, we can put allt he right systems in place and run programs and have staffing, but it will be in vain. And our churches will continue to fail – and depend on what god has supplemented the God who came to us, and died.
I highlighted part of Wiegel’s words above in red for a reason, this is the only thing I see that makes a difference in a church, no matter the size, no matter the budget, no matter whether it is growing or not. It is, clearly this one principal – do they get that they are in the presence of God, do they celebrate His love and mercy and His presence. Do we get that the Lord’s Supper, the focus of this day, isn’t about the rote movements – but as one of my oldest favorite songs describes – “God and Man at Table are sat Down” DO we realize His presence, His love, cleansing not just our feet but our lives, healing us, transforming us, the Holy Spirit residing with us!
Do we get that God has invited us to be not just His servants, but as Jesus says, His friends? To dwell in HIs glory, to be adopted children of the King?
You want such and such style of worship? Fine. You want such and such programs? They are out there! You want a cozy intimate church where everyone knows you name? You want a church that is involved in missional work? Or in serving the poor? Or in saving the unborn? Or in educating everyone? All good things… BUT
Above all, desire this – to be in a place that understands these words:
The Lord is with you!
And respond back… with fervor, with conviction, and with love…
And Also with you ( or and with your Spirit)
(1)Weigel, George (2013-02-05). Evangelical Catholicism (pp. 51-52). Basic Books. Kindle Edition.
Realizing and Revealing the Lord is With us: We can depend on Him!
Realizing and Revealing that
The Lord is with us…and
We Can Depend on Him!
Judges 7:1-15
When God removes all that we think we need, may we find great assurance in His Presence, a presence so strong that others, even our adversaries cannot help but comment on the grace and peace seen in us!
There is a nightmare that many people have, or so I have heard, the night before a big presentation, or some major point in their life – where they are the center of attention. It’s been described this way – there you are, the center of attention and everyone is looking at you, staring at you – and you realize you borrowed the emperor’s new wardrobe.
If you don’t know that story… you all of a sudden realize – you forgot to get dressed after taking a shower. Clothes are a good thing – and to be left without them in a dream isn’t as bad as being without them in public! But those dreams are often considered symbolic of our fears – that we will be found, we will be proven to lack something – that we will be defenseless against criticism – and that we be seen as losers.
I have the strangest feeling that Gideon knew that anxiety, that guy wrenching fear. Probably even before his army was reduced from 32,000 men down to 300. “God
,” I can hear Gideon saying, “what are you thinking? I have nothing left, and you want me to do what?
In this season of Lent, it is time to ask, to even plead that God help us give up those things we depend on, rather than depending upon His love, His mercy, His wisdom. Like Gideon – this is a time to realize – how much we need to depend on God, and indeed how
WHAT DO WE DEPEND ON, WHAT IS OUR GOD?
As I consider the conversation between God and Gideon, as I dwell on it, I have to wonder what I want to take into battle – and why? For a general, for the leader of an army – it would be the men, the size of the army, the advisors – I would want to have the best.
For us, what do we want to take with us? What do we depend on? It may be other people, those who lead us, or those we have come to trust. It might be the technology, or the books, our smile, or ability to think on our feet. What do we depend on so much, that we would not give credit to God for delivering us out of the situations we find ourselves in, or the situations where we, like Gideon, are called on to rescue people from the oppression brought about because of sin?
We have to remember that – Lent is not just about our realizing the presence of God in our lives in our time of need – but also our seeing that revealed to others.
It is so easy for us to forget about our need and our ability to depend completely on God. we are caught up in a world that proclaims to us a different gospel – a different message of salvation. If we want to get of the jam we are in, we are programmed by our society to do what all Americans do. If we want it done right, you do it yourself!
If we watch our supports stripped away… will our trust and our dependence on God still remain? The answer isn’t found in us, in our faithfulness. It is found in His. This is at the core of Lent – realizing that in our weakness, we find, quite joyfully, the love of God making as we realize His presence….
DO WE REALIZE WHAT OTHERS SEE?
That can be when the most miraculous of all things happens, as it did for Gideon. Sent by God into the camp to be encouraged, he hears something absolutely wonderful – something that causes him to drop to his knees in worship.
13 Gideon crept up just as a man was telling his companion about a dream. The man said, “I had this dream, and in my dream a loaf of barley bread came tumbling down into the Midianite camp. It hit a tent, turned it over, and knocked it flat!” 14 His companion answered, “Your dream can mean only one thing—God has given Gideon son of Joash, the Israelite, victory over Midian and all its allies!” Judges 7:13-14 (NLT)
Note that it is God who gives the victory, we can’t ever forget that. When we talk to someone, and they come home and are reconciled to God as the prodigal is, when we baptize someone here, it isn’t their own strength or power that saves them. It wasn’t their own ability to discern the truth about God’s heart towards them.
It’s simple – God works through people like you and I, as the Holy Spirit works in our lives – to reveal God giving the victory, God freeing His people from what binds them. We may never see the results; we may never understand the depth of the victory.
Or when we do, we’ll shake our heads, and realize how great our God is… and we’ll bow and worship and praise Him. Even before we see the final result of the victory. Even as we only see the foretaste of it, as we realize the promises made sure for us in our baptism, as we kneel at the altar, and realize He has called us here… to dine with Him, to commune with God.
Even before we see heaven, and the glory of God in which we dwell… through His love, through His guidance, we can begin to understand the incredible promises that come, as He comes, as He pours grace onto us. When we begin to realize what it means “that the Lord is with us”….
and as our lives reveal that promise is for them, as well
As our lives are lived out, in the peaceful presence of God which passes all understanding, as our hearts and minds kept in Christ Jesus. AMEN!
Related articles
- Realizing and Revealing the Lord is With You, assuring You of His Presence! (justifiedandsinner.com)
- The Lord is with you, strengthening you… (justifiedandsinner.com)
- The Lord is With Us…removing our idols! (justifiedandsinner.com)
Ash Wednesday
Realizing and Revealing that “The LORD is with You!”
Judges 2, John 1:1014
† In His Name †
As you realize that the Lord is with you, may you realize what that means, that you can trust His promises, that you have received His gift of mercy, that you dwell in His loving presence… and may you life reveal that to all you encounter!
As we enter lent, as we like Isaiah mourn that we are people of unclean lips and lives, living among a world that is equally marred by sin; it is not difficult to realize our times are not so different than those described in the book of judges.
The stories this week, from the 12 year old giving birth in Mexico, to the story of the war veteran/former police officer who snapped and turned on those he once protected. As we hear all the hatred that has been spewed out at the church as a whole, to broken families; there is a sense of despair building, not unlike the times where Israel would finally mourn and weep. It’s enough for a man of God to want to retire…and find some nice peaceful place to spend his days.
It is the reason why our foreheads and hands are marked with ashes this day, it causes us to face our sin, even as they did, and hopefully, like they did in the time of the judges, we will learn to cry out to God, finding our hope.
As we travel through Lent this year – our journey will be alongside Israel as they see over and over God’s faithfulness, even as God is not exactly happy with their sin. As we see Him leave them to the consequences for a time, but then the moment they remember His presence, the moment they call out for help – He raises up His judge, the one who leads and shepherds Israel, returning them to their place as the children of God.
It’s a journey that we have an advantage they didn’t have.
An incredible advantage.
A Complex Problem a Simple Solution
Hear again the description of the situation
18 Whenever the LORD raised up a judge over Israel, he was with that judge and rescued the people from their enemies throughout the judge’s lifetime. For the LORD took pity on his people, who were burdened by oppression and suffering. 19 But when the judge died, the people returned to their corrupt ways, behaving worse than those who had lived before them. They went after other gods, serving and worshiping them. And they refused to give up their evil practices and stubborn ways.
Let’s think about this – Israel was slow, so unable to stop sinning on their own, that the only when they had a strong judge, someone who could lead them to God, would they live as God’s people would. They were so weak, that left on their own, they would simply revert to the sinful nature they had, before they knew of God’s love, of God’s desire to be present among them.
When the leader died, they fell apart.
I was once told that the larger and more complex the problem is, the simpler the solution would be.
It’s pretty simple this time – they need a judge who will not die. One who would live with them – reminding them of God’s glory, of realizing His love.
Pretty simply – get a judge who will not die – the people who aren’t strong enough – will still be led to God.
Pretty simple – find Someone who will live in the midst of the people of God… and be there for them….
And that is where we have an advantage – if we, only took the time to realize it.
That’s what this time is… the time to realize that the judge is with us… or as more commonly said around here.
“The LORD is with you!”
Our gospel said it this way:
4 The Word gave life to everything that was created, and his life brought light to everyone. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness can never extinguish it.
14 So the Word became human and made his home among us. He was full of unfailing love and faithfulness. And we have seen his glory, the glory of the Father’s one and only Son.
Even as we struggle in this world, even as we spend these 40 days (except Sunday) looking at our need for Good Friday, our need for Easter, our need for Pentecost we know it is coming. Nothing can stop God’s work in rescuing His people, in delivering them from the dark times.
For He has raised up His judge, and nailed Him to the cross.
Because we needed it.
Because our world needs it. They need to know this very thing we realize, the thing that the judges knew – the thing that enabled them to minister to the people of God.
They need to have it revealed to them as well. This very special truth, that it is realized, when it is revealed, brings God’s mercy and peace and love to the forefront of our lives.
Hear it again….
The Lord is with you!
AMEN!
Don’t Rush the Journey!
Devotional Thought of the Day:
“4 Even when walking through the dark valley of death I will not be afraid, for you are close beside me, guarding, guiding all the way.” Psalm 23:4 (TLB)
“From the hidden life of Jesus you must draw this further consequence: not to be in a hurry… even when you are! That is to say, first and foremost comes the interior life. Everything else, the apostolate (the mission), any apostolate, is a corollary”. (1)
I spent the last three weeks, first in Asia, working with churches and missionaries, and then the first few days back visiting some of my people with huge health challenges, a couple on hospice, a man after major surgery, another with a heart attack. Then the last two with a small group of pastors, being mentored and taught ways to help focus our churches in, well – being the church. A lot of it is simple – to consider the mission of the church, given to it by God, and help people see that being the church is not about Sunday mornings, but in how we all live our lives, every day, in every situation, realizing we are placed here by God.
As I look back over these three weeks, as I prepare to talk about that journey on Sunday morning, this morning these two comments burn themselves into my mind. I look back on the mission trip, realizing my “best” work may not have been the preaching and teaching times. At least the most meaningful to me were the times walking with those who guided me around the cities, and shared with me the joys and frustrations of serving God in far off places. In encouraging them and in praying with the pastors and people I met. Especially when we took time to discuss and share…. over meals, while walking.
King David knew this wasn’t just how we operate best, it was the way God operates – yes – when He gathers us together, pours out His love and mercy and forgiveness, that seems to be the “big thing” of His interaction with us, but that is simply part of the same journey He takes with us – each and every moment of every day. As He walks with us through that day, sharing with us the things we experience, helping us to see it, not just with our eyes, but with His, as He redeems the time. As we read with out children at home, or do prepare a meal with our spouse. As we are at work, caring for a co-worker who is going through a bad time, as we visit those in the hospital, waiting to hear news.
Each time we minister and serve those around us. Each time we make sacrifices to be there…
It is, as t Josemaria says, a corollary, a parallel action, caused by the interior journey we are on, with the God who walks close to us, with us through life, guarding and guiding us, ensuring that evil cannot harm us, allowing us to dwell in His peace.
Don’t rush, enjoy the journey, even if our short term destination is critical – even if it is terminal – for the hourney itself, it is far more than we think it is.
For we walk with God.
For the Lord is with you!
(1) Escriva, Josemaria (2011-01-31). The Forge (Kindle Locations 2584-2586). Scepter Publishers. Kindle Edition.
Vacation – rest and revitalization…honestly?
Devotional thought of the day:
It started yesterday – about noonish – we started the packing of our “new” trailer, and it took five-ish hours, with my son giving tours to our neighbors. Then a little over 2 and a half hours to drive the 90 miles to the campground, another 2 hours to set up.
While our popup trailer is comparatively comfortable – it will take a few days to get used to it – every morning a three inch mattress will remind it us its not a tempurpedic, but chaDevotional thought of the day: It started yesterday – about noonish – we started the packing of our “new” trailer, and it took five-ish hours, with my son giving tours to our neighbors. Then a little over 2 and a half hours to drive the 90 miles to the campground, another 2 hours to set up. While our popup trailer is comparatively comfortable – it will take a few days to get used to it – every morning a three inch mattress will remind it us its not a tempurpedic, but chasing a five year old will bring that mattress to call to us very welcoming at the end of each day! A
And this is supposed to be rest and rejuvination? Hmmmm…
As we let people know we were actually going on vacation, many said to leave everything behind, just go and have fun… (as if life at Concordia isn’t fun, or at least thrilling in that rollercoaster, stomach twisting kind of adventure way!)
At first I acknowledged their wisdom, but realized that part of me wouldn’t leave Cerritos. I thought it would be my mind, that it would keep trying to work through everything. I was wrong, something is still there, but it isn’t my mind, it’s my heart.
In four years at Concordia (this week is the anniversary – so about time for a vacation?) I have watched people’s faith really blossom. When I got there, they had a unique tradition – every Bible Study starts and ends with the teacher stating, “The Lord is with you!”… This tradition I have come to love, and it really has become that which shapes our ministry here. ANd as I look and pray through our families, it only is made clearer that we truly need that knowledge, that blessing, the assurance than comes with His presence.
And they have gotten it – it is evident as they respond to that blessing, with words I love to here – for they are heart felt – they want me to know God is with me, just as much as they are learning to count on it.
St Paul once wrote a prayer for a church that he loved, and missed, and said,
3:14 My response is to get down on my knees before the Father, 15 this magnificent Father who parcels out all heaven and earth. 16 I ask him to strengthen you by his Spirit—not a brute strength but a glorious inner strength— 17 that Christ will live in you as you open the door and invite him in. And I ask him that with both feet planted firmly on love, 18 you’ll be able to take in with all Christians the extravagant dimensions of Christ’s love. Reach out and experience the breadth! Test its length! Plumb the depths! Rise to the heights! 19 Live full lives, full in the fullness of God. 20 God can do anything, you know—far more than you could ever imagine or guess or request in your wildest dreams! He does it not by pushing us around but by working within us, his Spirit deeply and gently within us.
Ephesians 3:14-20 (MSG)
If I could describe the people of my church, it is often that they are like kids at Christmas, just opening their eyes to the magnificence of God’s love for them…. they are starting to see this – and oh is it a joy to see it, as they witness another person to whom God’s promises are poured out in baptism, or as they see their burdens and anxieties lifted off them as we hear God’s forgiveness delivered, and as we pray…and as we feast together – in our potlucks for sure, but in the more precious meal of Christ’s Body and Blood..
As they live out our mission and motto – that Concordia is the place where people heal in Christ, while helping others heal…
In this, they are being revealed to be the very craftsmanship of God (see Eph 2:10) , or in Latin, the Opus Dei, in Greek – the Poiema – the poem
It is not my mind I left behind, as much as my heart – and the joy of seeing people know God’s love for them.. of realizing that God has called them into a relationship where He is there Father, and them finding rest there…. of them knowing the words, “the Lord is with you” and reminding me in response, that He is also with me….
That’s where I truly and revitalized, and I look forward to being back!
