For the last three years, I’ve been on Assembly Council. I’ve had the opportunity to talk with people from across the country, and time and again I hear stories of small, elderly congregations — less than 50 people out on a Sunday. And I can’t help thinking, what’s going to happen to those hundreds of little churches over the next 20 years? There isn’t a new generation, or at least, not nearly enough of them, to step in and take the place of those faithful, elderly members.
I’m thinking, they’re not going to make it …
Now, nobody wants to see a congregation close down … we just hate to do that. People get upset. They’ve been worshipping there all their lives. Just let it go on for a little longer … Don’t be mean to them …
And I understand that, but, I need to tell you, sometimes I wonder what an alien species would think if they came and observed the tribe we call, Presbyterians. If they tried to figure out the purpose of our group, I’m worried they might come to the conclusion that we’re “a society for the preservation of old buildings.”
I love the Presbyterian Church in Canada — its history and its traditions — but that’s not why Jesus went to the cross. I seem to remember Jesus looking at the magnificent Temple at the centre of Jerusalem and the Jewish religion, and he said to his disciples, “Do you see these great buildings? There will not be left here one stone upon another …”
And then, in the Gospel of Mark, “Jesus said, ‘You can’t put new wine into old wineskins.'”
And that’s the way it turned out for the followers of Jesus. They tried to stay within traditional Judaism — the synagogue, Temple worship — but the old structures wouldn’t … couldn’t accommodate … adapt, to the new ways of the disciples of Jesus. They were rejected or tossed out; the old wineskins couldn’t hold the new wine.
Now, am I going to tell you I’ve got the answers? No …
I have way more questions than I have answers, but I have this sense that the way we’re doing things now isn’t going to work that much longer.
Is it possible? The Holy Spirit is crying out for us to change course, and will we … can we change course before we run aground?
And while there’s still time, will we — our presbyteries and the Presbyterian Church — will we risk our very existence, the very life of this church of ours, this church I’ve loved and served all my life — will we put its very life in danger in order to be faithful to God?
And you see, here’s what I think: I don’t think we have a choice, because we’ve pledged our very souls to the one who said to us, “Whoever would save his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.”
Now, I don’t know if that’s a threat or a promise — maybe both, but for Jesus, it was the way he lived … it was the bottom line, “Risk it all to follow me … all of it …” — for him it was the only way.
