Monday, January 4, 2010

What "Service" Is Not, Part 854,379

My wife recently related a conversation to me that she had with an old friend of ours who had eventually found a new church home after leaving the building we had all attended together previously. Robin was visiting a new building in an attempt to satisfy her desire to experience a Christmas Eve service, which over the years of regular attendance at our former assembly had developed into a Christmas tradition. Unfortunately for her, the experience was something of a disappointment, as the music was mostly performance oriented, the sing-along carols were done in a non-sing-along manner (which further added to the performance flavor), and the pastor’s message bordered on strange (at least for Christmas and possibly the rest of the year as well). After the hour-long misery of failed expectations ended, she was able to connect socially with a few members of our former building’s diaspora, and then subsequently informed me of her conversation with one of our old friends.


One of the biggest difficulties in leaving a building where congregants have been involved for so many years is figuring out what to do with all of the newfound free time; time that was previously spent in meetings and honorable activities centered around the building.This dilemma is especially true for those who found themselves in leadership roles, as there seems to be no end to the amount of “service” opportunities the capable can fill. Such opportunities usually run the gamut from seemingly never-ending meetings about church business to tasks such as ushering or teaching Sunday school. What struck me about the conversation my wife had with our friend was his sense of utter relief at finding a new church home that provided him the opportunity to once again “serve” (as if he were completely hampered in performing Christian service outside of a building in the interim).

One of the issues that has plagued me during this recent period of questioning how we do church, is the seemingly church-wide concept promoting the notion that “service” is an activity exclusively carried out within the walls of a building, or at least that “service” performed there somehow is of a higher value than anything possibly classified as such outside the building. When we come to faith, we’re supposedly entering into a relationship with God through Jesus Christ. Practically, however, it oftentimes seems that over time, at least for some of us who become connected to an institutional church, we end up defaulting into a relationship with a building instead. 

Most buildings constantly demand attention from attendees who utilize the physical plant and the activities housed within. In addition, the needs of catering to our consumer-based society in order to attract and, perhaps more importantly, hold onto congregants leads to the development and maintenance of a whole host of programs--all of which require hours and hours of human toil for both workers and participants. Most buildings never seem to have enough help to keep all these balls in the air, which results in a sometimes subtle but continuous reproach of the congregation to voluntarily meet all these perceived needs, with pleas made under the guise of providing attendees with opportunities to “serve.” Unfortunately, and all too often, the end result of stoking these fires of obligation typically devolves into an activity of immersing oneself in serving the institution of the building, which ultimately pushes a relationship with Jesus off to the side (although any self-respecting church would vehemently refute this obvious reality). If you’ve ever been a churchgoer, you’re probably aware of the seemingly self-sacrificing saints who are always at the building, filling every possible position of service they’re offered (I sometimes wondered if the building offered such people a place to sleep at night if they would completely abandon their outside lifestyle). Usually, only in extreme cases are these people counseled by leadership to back off before they burn out, as serving the needs of the institution oftentimes seems more important than personal well being--and who dare argue with the nobility of servants selflessly toiling away for the benefit of the church? 

Entering into a relationship with Jesus and then devoting oneself almost exclusively to the needs of a building, no matter how well intentioned, is fraught with misfortune. Such misdirected activity is similar to getting married and, rather than cultivating a relationship with your spouse, spending all of your conscious effort working on improving your household instead. Neglecting communication with your spouse, but assuming you’re connecting with his or her heart by improving the flow in your shower, or removing the dust from all the flat surfaces, however needful, is just not going to prosper any kind of meaningful relationship. Advocates of the building approach may counter that a person who serves the church is serving others, which is a much better option than serving oneself. While that may be true, serving a building and ostensibly serving others at the exclusion of developing a relationship with God is not in the Master’s plan. When anything, no matter how good, comes ahead of God, then we have completely missed the point (I think there might be a commandment about that somewhere in the Bible). Unfortunately, in many cases the church in America has become more important than its head, despite all the audible protest to the contrary.

Obviously, a relationship with God should produce some sort of tangible fruit that manifests itself in the form of service. But somehow, some way, following Jesus should be more about serving our family, neighbors, co-workers, and community, rather than exclusively performing acts isolated to a building, where we incestuously minister to those just like us on the inside and neglect just about everyone else on the outside. Focusing on meeting the needs of a building, even legitimate needs, at the exclusion of serving those outside the faith seems counterproductive at best to the furtherance of the gospel.

Fortunately, God went to tremendously unbelievable lengths in order to be in relationship with us. Scripture paints a picture of Jesus as the bridegroom and his church (us) as the bride. Inadvertently placing our first priority on a relationship with a building, or what happens inside, or even the other people there, seems to conjure up a very unsavory comparison to a figure outside the bride and bridegroom of that marriage analogy.

Mike
Dorado, Puerto Rico

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