Transition Times
Dear church,
When our Bishop wrote his report for the assembly that took place this weekend, he used one word to describe the state of the church: transition. When I read that, I immediately thought that this word could describe the last twenty years of my time as a pastor, if not the entirety of the ministry I have experienced. So much has changed. So much is in flux in terms of people’s faith and their attitudes towards religion. When I came here almost twenty years ago, the dean of the Lower Montgomery Synod was the late Bill Welther who served St. John’s in Center Square. Being new and moving here from a parish in the inner city, I asked him whether there were any congregations that were struggling in the conference. And, believe it or not, back then, circa 2007, he could not think of one. I wonder what he would say today. There are many churches in our synod and in our conference too small to pay for a full-time pastor, including in the suburbs. New models and ways of doing ministry are constantly evaluated. Surely, we live in a time of transition.
The very last part of the gospel of Matthew, that wonderful passage, also called “The Great Commission,” echoes an early transition time in Christian history. You will notice some changes to the status quo in this gospel text, including subtle ones. The twelve apostles are no longer twelve, for instance. Judas is missing and this is the only time when Matthew speaks of the eleven disciples. Jesus comes up with an entirely new, up until then unheard-of expression, one that would stick around for the ages. He commanded his followers to baptize, not simply in his name, not simply in God’s name, but in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. We wonder: how did he even come up with that? There was no Holy Trinity concept or theology at that time. The theology around it was developed much, much later but this formula to baptize came first, came early. Where did it come from?
Finally, and this is no small change, Jesus gives his disciples a commission that reaches in scope far beyond anything he had asked them to do in the three years he had spent with them. “Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations…” That is the same Jesus who had been so careful in his boundaries as to stay in the area of Israel and Samaria throughout his ministry. Yes, we saw him break through some of the traditional boundaries during those three years. Yes, many times, he reached people from outside of his native tribe: Samaritans, Roman officers, Gentiles. But for the most part he stayed local. Not here in his final commission to his disciples, setting the direction of the church for the future. He opens up the play book: go and make disciples of all nations. He is saying, in other words… “This message I give to you is too precious to confine to a chosen few. It is meant for all. It’s a universal, “catholic” message in the true sense of the word. It’s for all nations, for absolutely everybody.” And again, we ask: where did that idea come from?
Take note, people! During transition times, the spirit will come up with fresh ideas, new names, different takes.
Traditionally, the Sunday after Pentecost is Holy Trinity Sunday when we celebrate the mystery of God’s togetherness. You can’t confine this God to one simple name; you can’t catch this God in one simple theology. The name in which we baptize people, the triune name of Father, Son and Holy Spirit, creator, redeemer, renewer, describes the dynamic nature of the Holy One. There is room in God to be different and yet to be one. There is room in God to move and yet to stay the same. There is room in God to be human and divine at the same time. It’s all about the eternal dance of being… and we are invited to join the dance party. We should really have a liturgical dance on Holy Trinity Sunday. It would be the best visible expression of God’s movement reflected in all of creation, in the dancing energy that lies at the core of every building block of life, every atom, all of physics. “Come join the dance of Trinity before the world began.”
Which brings me back to where I began: transition times. What makes transitions in church and in life so necessary? Couldn’t we just go back to a golden age and stay there forever, freeze that wonderful era of yesteryear, preserve its spirit, make it last? Such sentiments are often called “sentimental,” and perhaps they are, but they are also understandable. Humans want to preserve what’s good and have tried that in all aspects of life, including in religion. But here comes the Holy One, the eternal dancer and says, “Get up and move, you must keep moving, improving, and embrace the movement of life itself - or you will die.”
Transition times are an invitation to life. They are often uncomfortable and even scary but necessary and potentially life-giving.
On that mountain in Galilee Jesus prepared his disciples for a whole new world, a new direction, an embrace of people from all nations, a big and bold transition. I hope we are ready to hear his words for our time. I hope you and I are ready to be church for our time, in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. I hope we are all inspired to go out and serve and move to God’s dance.
Amen.
