Casting our nets on the right side of the boat. Earlier this week I had a conversation with a friend who was lamenting that the church no longer provides a focal point in the life of our communities. She is very concerned that if present trends continue, the church in her community will close and be no more. Many share her concerns. I do not. To be sure, the church "building” in her community may close it doors. This does not mean, in my mind, God’s mission work in the world will come to and end.
Like Abraham and the disciples of Jesus, we are a pilgrim people. I believe that God is at work leading us and the church into a place. We cannot live in the past. The past is over. There are only two things we can do about the past. First, we need to give thanks to God for what has been accomplished and achieved. Second, we need to ask God’s forgiveness for the sins of omission (that which we have neglected to do) and commission (those which we have done) as followers of Jesus.
We cannot change what has been. We can however do something about the present and the future. I believe we need to understand the context in which we find ourselves. While it is true there is a declining participation in church, we live in a time when there is great interest in “spirituality”.
What has changed is that there was a time when social conformity delivered people to church. In the past when you wanted to get a good reference you needed to be on good terms with the minister or priest in the community. When you missed church on a Sunday morning, you had to have a good reason, be seriously ill or dead. In some communities the pressure was so intense you either attended church or left the community. People no longer experience such pressure to conform and attend church. In fact, there is a new form of social conformity at work that excludes going to church. It is not considered to be “hip” to be involved in church. In order to remain on good terms with some friends, you have to justify why you attend church. At one time it was called “bearing witness to ones faith.”
We live in a time of increase in freedom of choice. Once there was not much else to do on a Sunday morning or evening but go to church. Now all of us have many more options to choose from. Church is no longer the only activity. The variety of choices is phenomenal.
I believe we are dealing with is a decline in “church participation”, not a decline in “faith”, “spirituality” or “religion”. In my experience people have a profound interest in spirituality, in matters of faith and in religion. The problem is that that this interest in spirituality is not connecting with the institutional church or is it delivering people to the doors of the church. I have a hunch that many lingering customs, habits and traditions of a “churched culture” no longer work in the “mission place” we now find ourselves.
I believe that we need to confess to God that we have counted on social conformity to deliver people to the church. We need to give thanks that people now come out of choice and not out of pressure. We need to ask God to help us see how God is at work in our world and how we can share our understanding of the Christian faith with family and friends. We need to learn to truly partner with each other, people of all ages, to the worship God who is at work striving to breathe new life into the “dry bones of the church.”
Social conformity has not gone away. While it may no longer include the church in the way it once did, we might question and challenge the new forms of social conformity and ask, "Do the new forms lead to health and well being of people? Are the new forms of social conformity just, kind and life giving, or are they unjust and life consuming?"
We are a people who believe in freedom of choices. The fewer the choices, the easier it is for the church to settle for mediocrity. Maybe that is one of the real issues we are facing. Has the church over the years settled for mediocrity in how we have carried out our ministry and mission in the community?
In one of the post resurrections stories in John’s gospel (21:1-8) Jesus stands as a Stranger on the shore. The disciples do not recognize Jesus. The disciples have been out fishing all night. The old ways are not working anymore. They used be pretty good fishers. The Stranger asks invites them to cast their nets on the right side of the boat. And they did. The first miracle is that they trust the Stranger-Jesus. They could have turned away and gone on with what they were doing. The second miracle is that the nets were loaded with fish. New ways do work. The third miracle is that they recognize Jesus. It is in casting our nets that we discover Christ. In this strange world in which we find ourselves, God is with us. We are not alone.
