One day, while he was teaching, Pharisees and teachers of the law were sitting near by (they had come from every village of Galilee and Judea and from Jerusalem); and the power of the Lord was with him to heal. Just then some men came, carrying a paralyzed man on a bed. They were trying to bring him in and lay him before Jesus; but finding no way to bring him in because of the crowd, they went up on the roof and let him down with his bed through the tiles into the middle of the crowd in front of Jesus. When he saw their faith, he said, “Friend, your sins are forgiven you.” Then the scribes and the Pharisees began to question, “Who is this who is speaking blasphemies? Who can forgive sins but God alone?” When Jesus perceived their questionings, he answered them, “Why do you raise such questions in your hearts? Which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven you,’ or to say, ‘Stand up and walk’? But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”—he said to the one who was paralyzed—“I say to you, stand up and take your bed and go to your home.” Immediately he stood up before them, took what he had been lying on, and went to his home, glorifying God. Amazement seized all of them, and they glorified God and were filled with awe, saying, “We have seen strange things today.” Luke 5:17-26
All week this week I’m going to have CHURCH on my mind. I’m spending the week at our annual theological conference, a gathering of pastors and rostered leaders from throughout Texas and Louisiana. The conference itself will feature some interesting speakers – this year the topic is stewardship of the earth – but the real guts of this time away for me is the opportunity to talk “shop” with other pastors. We’ll talk about everything under the sun but mainly we’ll talk about how things are going in our congregations.
Unfortunately, for the vast majority of our congregations, at least in our little corner of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, things aren’t looking so great. It is as simple, and as complex as realizing that congregations are growing smaller and their members are growing older. Oddly enough, although proving this reality is as easy as glancing inside sanctuaries on Sunday mornings or doing a quick check of the annual statistics, it seems to be very difficult to convince people that this is actually happening, that it is a bad thing that is happening and that faithfulness to our calling means that we need to be doing whatever we can do to turn it around.
Denial is an amazingly powerful anesthetic.
Hopefully events like the one I am at can help turn us from denial to diagnosis. Something is clearly out of kilter. Living things grow and our congregations are dying. Healthy organisms adapt to their environment and our congregations seem unwilling or unable to adapt well to the changes in ours. Effective organizations learn from the past and strive toward the future, too many congregations live in the past and don’t give much thought to the future. In short, the diagnosis says we’re sick and, if we don’t recover, we’ll die. It might take a while but it will happen.
The paralyzed man, on his own, had no chance at getting in to see Dr. Jesus. The clinic was too busy, the waiting room jammed to the rafters. Not everyone was there to get well. As a matter of fact, many were there just to get in the way. They were like vultures waiting for the slightest provocation to sue Dr. Jesus for malpractice.
But the paralyzed man had some great friends. They literally carried him to the roof of the house, tore off enough tiles to fit their paralyzed friend through the whole, and dropped him at the feet of Jesus. “Your sins are forgiven,” said Jesus. That was all it took. The once paralyzed man took up his bed and walked back out through the crowd. Strange things indeed happened that day.
Who is it that loves their congregation enough to be willing to do absolutely anything to bring it for healing to the feet of Jesus? Willing even for strange things to happen within its walls?
Let us pray: Gracious Lord, you have gathered us into communities we call congregations. Some of us as pastors, most of us as everyday people who serve you in a myriad of ways out in the wider world. We pray for healing – healing of our perspectives and our practices and all that would prevent us from being open and eager to reach out and welcome in those who live around us. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
Daily Devotions 
January 26, 2009 at 9:09 pm |
Your little corner of the ELCA is not alone! Lutheran churches and other mainline denominational churches are aging and shrinking everywhere. Unfortunately, most people express love for their church by circling the wagons and doing everything they can to preserve what’s left of the good old days.
Growing a church is so simple…but it’s not easy. It requires people to stop looking at each other and start looking at the world around them, to look beyond what they want their church to be and start asking questions about what the people in their community NEED their church to be. Jesus said, “Love God and love people.” When people in churches band together to follow that command in meaningful ways in their community…when they stop focusing on themselves and start focusing on their neighbors…and when they DO something to make a difference in the lives of people who need to know someone cares…churches can’t help but grow.
Stranger things have happened…and strange things are often incredibly beautiful. Thank you for being a voice for change. I pray that your voice will become a chorus!
January 27, 2009 at 6:30 pm |
I live in Southeastern Michigan and attend an ELCA church…..and yes it is small. There are mega churches in the area such as Kensington. But I wonder…..is the Christian church as a whole getting larger? Or is the population just shifting around?