3/21/21 “It is for this Reason: Church in the 21st Century” by Nancy E. Petty

John 12:20-27

Our text this morning raises a question that Christianity has been struggling with for centuries: What was Jesus’ purpose in the world? Traditionally, the church has had one response to that question: “salvation, personal salvation.” Jesus came into the world to “save” us from sin so that we might have eternal life. Christianity has taught that Jesus’ life and death exist for that sole purpose. And if you simply read our text this morning without really looking at it, it could seem that Jesus is saying the same thing. But I would caution against a quick read. I’ll get to that later.

Some of us have rejected the single theological assertion of personal salvation for a broader purpose. In part, we explore Jesus’ purpose in this world as one to take on the dominate systems of power and greed that keep people oppressed and marginalized. We hold to the idea that Jesus’ purpose was to usher in God’s kingdom here on earth: a commonwealth of God’s justice-love, of a radical inclusion and a world where all are equal. And we believe that it is the purpose of today’s disciples, and, thus the church of the 21st century to be about that business: to usher in God’s commonwealth here and now, not simply for some afterlife.

If we believe in the later, that Jesus’ purpose was to take on the dominate systems of power and greed that keep people oppressed in this life; and that salvation is not just about an afterlife but about the here and now, what does that mean for the church of the 21st century. If the church is the extension of Jesus’ ministry, then our text today begs the question: For what reason does the church today exist? 

Chalice, in a powerful and courageous sermon last week, you laid out the vital issues facing this country and therefore the church in the 21 century. Studies show that the church of today, specifically Christian churches, are in crisis. There is no shortage of research that shows membership declining rapidly in churches over the past two years. Could the reason be that the church has misrepresented Jesus’ purpose. The church has focused more on sin and personal salvation and less on service to others and the sacraments of love and inclusion and restorative justice for those who are suffering under systems of injustice.

Pew Research:

The religious landscape of the United States continues to change at a rapid clip. In Pew Research Center surveys conducted in 2018 and 2019, 65% of American adults describe themselves as Christians when asked about their religion, down 12 percentage points over the past decade. Meanwhile, the religiously unaffiliated share of the population, consisting of people who describe their religious identity as atheist, agnostic or “nothing in particular,” now stands at 26%, up from 17% in 2009.

Both Protestantism and Catholicism are experiencing losses of population share. Currently, 43% of U.S. adults identify with Protestantism, down from 51% in 2009. And one-in-five adults (20%) are Catholic, down from 23% in 2009. Meanwhile, all subsets of the religiously unaffiliated population – a group also known as religious “nones” – have seen their numbers swell. Self-described atheists now account for 4% of U.S. adults, up modestly but significantly from 2% in 2009; agnostics make up 5% of U.S. adults, up from 3% a decade ago; and 17% of Americans now describe their religion as “nothing in particular,” up from 12% in 2009. 

The Pandemic

The pandemic has accelerated this decline. It is estimated that 20% of churches in the US will not ever open their doors again. Church buildings will be vacated, go into foreclosure, and sold to investors that will either tear down or transform the buildings for other uses.

Reflecting on our text and the phrase “it is for this reason” I searched this week for a metaphor for how to answer this question: for what purpose does the church exist today. I was somewhat surprised at what came to me.

July 20, 1969. I was about 2.5 months shy of my 6th birthday when Neil Armstrong and Apollo 11 pilot Buzz Aldrin became the first people to land on the Moon, the next day spending two 2.5 hours outside the Lunar Module Eagle spacecraft walking on the Moon. I was reminded of my obsession of this event as a child a couple weeks ago as a watched a 60 Minutes special on NASA and the building of space shuttles.

• As an elementary school kid I became obsessed with building space shuttles as class projects. Cardboard, buttons, all things silver, black and white paint became precious commodities in my house. I would work for hours trying to replicate the Apollo 11 space craft. The details were important. All the way down to the rocket boosters—the necessary part that launched the spacecraft.

• I was reminded of the vital role the rocket boosters play as I watched the 60 Minutes special a couple weeks ago. The rocket boosters are what make the launch possible and yet, their purpose is for only about the first 2 to 3 minutes of launch. Then they fall away. Dropped into the ocean where they are recovered and reworked to be used again if possible. Without the boosters the rocket would never launch. But then they fall away. Not discarded but recovered to be reworked and used again.

And herein lies my metaphor. It’s not perfect but then again metaphors are not perfect.

What happens inside the church is like the rocket boosters. Those boosters generate tremendous amounts of energy, of force – we’ve all seen the images of the thrusting engines firing and burning away the launchpad – it is this massive energy, this force, that is necessary to launch us into the unknown spaces in the universe. The rocket boosters represent what happens when we gather in community in our church. Here, we receive the energy, the spiritual force to launch ourselves to do the work we are called to do: to build God’s commonwealth here on this earth in places and spaces where our associations will be questioned, just like how the journeys into space are questioned every time a spacecraft is launched. 

What do those rocket boosters represent? Worship. Small groups gathering where we build authentic relationships and nurture our spiritual lives. And how we use our building for our mission. These acts of communion and of community, of eucharist and transformation are what turn our hearts into the fuel needed for those rocket boosters to launch us out into the world to do God’s work.

I fully believe that the church has a role to play in society. It is the church that has the potential to bring meaning into the world and into people’s lives. But to do so, and here’s the thing, the church must be willing to separate from the boosters and launch into those places where we benefit and then tell the truth about why we are benefiting (our privilege, our power, our wealth); and thus begin to change the systems so that they benefit everyone, not just the few.

To really claim our purpose, our reason for existing as the 21st century church, we have to be willing to let those rocket boosters launch us into unexplored spaces. We have to be willing to let the rocket boosters fall away knowing that with each launching they will be the energy the, force that sends us out again and again and again. We can’t simply stay connected to the rocket boosters. To do so would be to die.

In that 60 Minutes interview one of the engineers stated that the rocket boosters are retrieved and reworked and refurbished to be used again. The church of today can be of use again, but not without some reworking and refurbishing.

And what of this reworking and refurbishing? 

Chalice talks

Questions:

1.It is obvious how the “sick” need the good news Jesus proclaimed of healing the sick, bringing release to the prisoners, feeding the hungry. What is the good news for the “comfortable and the healthy?” And what does that mean for a church like Pullen that is mostly made up of the comfortable and the healthy?

2.You said the “church can’t be afraid of association in the way the rest of the world is.” What does that mean for Pullen church?

My closing:

Verse 26: “Whoever serves me must follow me, and where I am, there will my disciples be also.”

It is for this purpose that the church exists: to serve one another in building God’s commonwealth here and now, on this earth. To follow Jesus, to serve his purpose of building a justice-love, radically inclusive kin-dom on earth means that we have to be willing to launch. We can’t simply stay connected to the rocket boosters. To do so is to self-destruct.