Two people were walking along a crowded sidewalk in a downtown business area. Suddenly, one exclaimed: “Listen to the lovely sound of that cricket.” But the other could not hear. He asked his companion how he could detect the sound of a cricket amid the din of people and traffic. The first man, who was a zoologist, had trained himself to listen to the voices of nature. But he did not explain. He simply took a coin out of his pocket and dropped it to the sidewalk, whereby a dozen people began to look about them. “We hear,” the zoologist said, “what we listen for.”
From the Gospels, from the tradition of the Church, and from growing, vibrant, “spirit-filled,” Christian congregations and communities, we learn that there is a key “rock” upon which Christ builds a truly faithfilled and life-giving Church: The art of listening and looking for the signs of God at work in the world.
Think about this art in relationship to our Christian life at All Saints'. Are we a parish family that, above all, seeks to discern, listen for, and then celebrate, the awesome movement of a powerful God, through Jesus Christ, in the power of the Holy Spirit among us?
Our Vision Team and Strategic Planning Teams have used a marvelous book by the provocative Episcopalian and Anglican pastor, Christian Educator, and author, The Rev. Dr. Howard Hanchey: From Survival to Celebration: Leadership for the Confident Church.
He describes parishes and congregations which listen for, and celebrate the movement and blessings of God above all else as Mission-Minded communities of faith. Marks of Mission-Minded communities are:
A “Doxological-Celebration” theology which always looks for moments of praise and thanksgiving: Our property, our stewardship, our finances are all important, but more critical for Gospel life is the celebration of God, moving the midst of life which makes any property, church or personal, even possible!
What, indeed are we celebrating at All Saints' parish? Over the past two weeks, we collected over $5,600 for the Haitian relief effort!
For what do we listen for in this? Is this response about duty, obligation, and commitment? Well, of course, there is much of all that and accountability for good works of mercy and compassion is a critical part of the Christian life.
But do we listen for more? Do we listen for the movement of the Holy Spirit, inspiring our hearts to give, moving us to respond to the deep and mysterious faith of the people of Haiti who danced in prayer and praise even as they were pulling their loved ones from rubble?
Do we listen, above all, for God's spirit moving among us and among the Haitian people and all who are responding to the human tragedy of the earthquake which took so many Haitian lives, but not the spirit of its people?
A “Horizontal” theology with as much depth as a “Vertical” theology: A vertical theology focuses on creeds, doctrines, rules, laws, norms to help us know about God and believe in God. Such is important. But marvelous, growing Gospel-based Churches also enable us to fall in love with God, to experience God, to share God's love. Horizontal theology touches the heart as well as the mind.
“Mission-minded” congregations are strong on telling their stories of God's wonderful work and love in the world.
What growing, nondenominational churches practice–that often the mainline, struggling denominations like the Episcopal Church do not–is the spiritual feeding of a world hungry for “Good News,” rather than “Work News.”
Some questions arise in our life at All Saints' as we are invited to practice a Horizontal theology: Can we distinguish between a focus on the church–what the church “ought to do and should do,” and a focus on God–what God is doing in the world? Which would you rather hear about? What do you think the church would rather hear about? What do you think the world would rather hear about?
A robust Christology: What is Christology? It is a way of thinking about the importance of Christ in the world and in the church. The kind of Christology present in mission-minded congregations is not, however, highly intellectual. No, rather, in the words of the Gospel reading from the 4th Chapter of Luke upcoming on the Third Sunday after the Epiphany, this vision of the Gospel is fundamentally rooted in Jesus' description of his own ministry: the blind see, the deaf hear, and the lame walk.
Here is the cross writ large in the midst of life–not as a theological proposition, but as an expression of God's presence and ministry.
Such is also a meaningful spiritual transition into Lent whereby this season of self-examination, reflection and penitence becomes more than an assent to the doctrine of the atonement and that we are all “sinners in the hands of an angry God.”
No, Lent becomes an exciting season of renewal, transformation and celebration of the Lord of life, who redeems, gives light in the midst of darkness, heals the broken, and liberates the oppressed. Lent without the truth of a post-Easter life becomes a dreary expression of sackcloth and spiritual melancholy.
The January issue of The Living Church contains an article, “Royally in Denial,” by the Rev. Dr. Neal Michell, canon to the ordinary of the Diocese of Dallas which powerfully addresses the need for “Mission-Minded” theology and practice in the Episcopal Church.
Not only does the article name a truth: the Episcopal Church continues to decline in numbers (thankfully, All Saints' Parish AND our sister parish of Trinity, Princeton are both exceptions to this and are both growing parishes–albeit gradually!), the article also offers a powerful transformative vision of mission and celebration.
Dr. Michell writes, “The problems facing our church are spiritual in nature. We have not been faithful enough disciples of Jesus Christ. We have not reached out to those around us with the Good News of Christ. We must not be content with “holding the line.”
“St. Paul said, referring to the Gospel, “But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the Excellency of the power may be of God, not us!” Our “sin” is that we have treated our denomination as the treasure and the gospel as an earthen vessel.”
Dr. Michell closes with the following story:
In 1934, the General Convention of the Episcopal Church met in Atlantic City.
From that despair emerged the Forward Movement.
Weariness and resignation pervaded the air at General Convention. The Great Depression had led to widespread distrust of church leadership. Revenues for the several previous years had fallen greatly short of projections. Programs were cut and the denomination was in debt due to heavy borrowing to pay bills.
Two wealthy laymen from Ohio, Harvey Firestone and Robert Taft suggested a special campaign to retire the debt, using the theme, “Hold the Line!” The campaign eventually was successful.
But, something else happened of much more magnitude. One deputy rose to speak. He was from Tennessee, especially hard hit by the depression. “This church needs to do more than hold the line. We need to move forward!”
From this unknown Tennessee deputy's passionate plea emerged one of the great spiritual forces in contemporary American Christianity: The Forward Movement.
Not only did Forward Movement hold meetings and conferences to deepen the discipleship of Episcopalians across the country, it began to develop devotional materials. It aimed to restore confidence in leadership. Finally it established the Forward Movement Commission to oversee and continue this commitment to discipleship.
If you, like countless Christians, are moved to read and use Forward Day by Day, then celebrate the movement of God in the 1934 General Convention which not only en- abled the spiritual renewal of the Episcopal Church, but created devotional works which continue to transform the lives of American Anglican and Episcopalian Christians.
Our Vestry and Rector, meeting in retreat in January, committed All Saints' parish, to the practices of a Mission-Minded congregation.
Our new Vision and Mission Statements (see newsletter) incarnate a Doxological, Horizontal, and Christological theology, inspiring us to practice spirituality in joyful celebration of God's spirit in this place and sacred space. Our Strategic Planning guiding principals (see newsletter) invite us to give specific forms to our vision of the movement of the Holy Spirit here.
And the outline of our new Mission plan (see newsletter) and currently being created by our Vestry Mission Teams (formally parish committees), challenge us to creative ways for you to participate in the marvelous work of God in our parish community, this limb, womb, heart and mind of the body of Christ.
Our parish leadership is forging a vision and mission plan for our parish which is NOT fundamentally a call to yet another commitment, duty and work, but your joyful participation in the beautiful, marvelous, miraculous work of God in our world.
For, at All Saints', we are NOT holding the line!
We are celebrating a new Forward Movement!
Faithfully,
The Rev. Hugh E. Brown, III, D. Min. Rector