Sometimes the best laid plans …
Originally posted Sept. 18, 2012, at the altar ego. Republished with permission of the author.
Every time I mention that wonderful biblical quote from Jesus, “Where two or three are gathered in my name … ,” I usually see people struggling to stop rolling their eyes.
It normally comes at the beginning of a (seemingly) embarrassingly low-attended group, or meeting, or brand-new ministry that I was absolutely sure was going to rock God’s own socks off. Months of planning, PR’ing the heck out of it and two people show up.
Plus me, and that’s three! As Jesus said, “Where two or three are … ”
Yeah, that’s all fine and good, but where are the numbers? I can hear people thinking. (Or are those just the voices in my head?) We see the evangelical church down the road running their multitude of ministries with standing-room-only crowds. Where’s our success?
Now, before I allow myself to fall into that negative black hole that sucks everyone in the 100-foot vicinity down into that other old, old story — the one usually beginning with, “Back in the day, churches were overflowing … ” and ending with, “ … nowadays, people are just too selfish/secular/lazy/busy to do anything … ” — I want to take a second and invite us, as the body of Christ, to embrace holy failings.
When did the kingdom of God become all about success and numbers? I know it’s hard to see through the veil of our modern worship-of-Western-capitalism, winner-take-all, young-man-go-west, self-made society — but our Christian story originated from the margins of an oppressed, exiled community. Before we were ever sanctified with power through Constantine, our ancestors in the faith lived on the edge.
And they didn’t do this in spite of the biblical witness, but because of it.
I challenge successful modern-day peddlers of the health-and-wealth gospel to show me a person used by God who was a model of success and numbers. As David Lose wisely points out, if we “read the Bible even for a little while, (we’ll) soon realize that most of the major characters are, shall we say, less than ideal.” Ruth was, in the eyes of her society, a failure. Joseph tried to dismiss Mary quietly to avoid a Jerry Springer-like scandal. Just last week we heard Jesus himself embarrassingly call a Gentile woman a dog, and that’s just the start of this miss list.
When I read about these holy failings, I’m inspired to try crazy, off-the-wall, outside-the-box things myself, regardless of the numbers or the success rate. Why do we want to play it so safe in the kingdom of God?
Jesus has a response to this — he reminds his disciples that following him isn’t going to be easy — it wasn’t automatic success along with impressive numbers to send in with that annual congregational report. It was totally the opposite, actually. ”Those who lose their life … ”
Are we afraid of what might happen if we fail? Jesus has a response to that, too. I’ll paraphrase him: “Don’t be afraid.” He says that a lot.
I think we’re called to stop being so concerned about numbers and success rates. Let’s be open to failure. God knows what might come out of it. Literally.
Find a link to Jason Chesnut’s the altar ego at Lutheran Blogs.
You might also want to read:
Going to the dogs
Going to church
Preaching in their parking lots
"I challenge successful modern-day peddlers of the health-and-wealth gospel to show me a person used by God who was a model of success and numbers"...Job, St Paul, St. John, Noah, Joseph, Daniel, and Moses were all pretty good.
"Before we were ever sanctified with power through Constantine...." If you are talking about numbers, the little incident between Jesus and Constantine added the Roman Empire and subsequently Europe to the Christian Church.
Why do you disparage Ruth and Joseph? Ruth was a holy woman. Saint Joseph has always been revered as a man of great holiness -- at first he simply did not understand, neither did Mary. Unbelievably you say that Jesus embarrassed himself, and then you put him on a "miss list." How do you think that "plays" with the folks?
I think the answer to your question about why the evangelical churches have large numbers is obvious: generally, they follow Scripture.
Thanks, Davey, for the comment. I'm not really talking about people who are good. I think there are many good people whom God uses. But a model of perfection and success? Moses killed someone. Noah got drunk and was found naked by his son. And yet God continues to use them.
I appreciate your comments, Karen. I don't mean to disparage anyone - I'm merely saying that Ruth, as a foreigner, would have been looked down upon, and yet God used her. That inspires me - to know that holiness doesn't equal perfection.
I also don't intend to have my comments about Jesus "play" with anyone. I'm honestly wondering what he would have felt after calling a woman a dog. Sometimes it seems we're hesitant to look at what Jesus said and did for fear of offending.
And what does following Scripture really imply? It's rather difficult to do everything that's commanded in Leviticus, for example. I believe, for Christians, our challenge is to follow Jesus, the Scripture made flesh. I don't think this has any correlation with big numbers in church buildings on Sunday.
Jason -- Communication probs... when I wrote "play" I meant how will people take saying what you said about Jesus? -- Low christology, undeifying Christ, etc. -- this is a problem in present-day Lutheran theology.
A little Scripture study will clear up the problem about "dog." This was in the context of the moment. This was cultural. I am SURE that Jesus had a twinkle in his eye when he spoke those words -- and that the woman was "playing" with him -- there was a lot of love going on there. It is in our feminist culture that this is offensive.
Following Scripture is complicated. Scripture must be interpreted, but some of it is crystal clear. The laws of Leviticus have little to do with the clear teachings of St. Paul... and this has everything to do with the decline in church attendance.
Jason -- You said: "That inspires me - to know that holiness doesn't equal perfection."
This is a terrible misunderstanding. "Saint and sinner." Jesus calls us to perfection -- this is very clear in the Sermon on the Mount. OBVIOUSLY this is a process. We are not instantly perfect. Over our lifetimes, with the exercise of our free will and the help of the Holy Spirit, we have the opportunity to become perfect, to become Saints.
When you feel that you are "not perfect" -- that you have sinned, be comforted to know that when you confess your sins, you are forgiven. Don't take comfort thinking that holiness does not equal perfection... because -- ultimately -- it does.
This is not hard to understand.
Hey Jason,
Oh, I thought you said "success and numbers" via a health-and-wealth gospel. "Perfection and numbers" changes the whole conversation. So you challenge folks to show you a person that God used that wasn't perfect? Hummmm….Who in the history of mankind was perfect, accept for Christ? That is a pretty steep challenge indeed. In fact, by replacing the word "numbers" with "prefect"; it really kills the challenge.
My point was that God used many "successful" folks and they have added great "numbers" to the church. The folks I mentioned in my first comment were all flawed, but they were at least arguably "successful" or relatively wealthy. When I said "good" I didn't mean perfect; I meant they were "good" examples to your challenge. Sorry for the confusion
Boys, Jason & Davey, the problem here is what we mean by "perfect." I think we can all agree that to be in heaven, a human has to be perfect: nothing imperfect can exist in the Presence of God. Agreed?
The question is: Can we become perfect in this life? Jesus seemed to imply that we can. The church (catholic) canonizes people that it believes went directly (or almost) to heaven. In other words, they achieved a level of perfection on Earth.
Even if the church is wrong, isn't it better to strive for perfection? We don't have to do it stressfully -- we can confess our sins.
Simple. Why settle for second best? Or worse -- say that certain sins are OK.
I agree Karen V ;o)
Jason, this is an excellent post, and great food for thought. God has called losers in love throughout history; it's always been this way. The Magnificat is wonderful testament to that.
The triumphalism that is spoken of in some of the responses to your thoughts is truly proof that a theology of glory always rears it's ugly head when truth is spoken. Of that, I am "SURE."