The Power of One

I keep in touch regularly with a friend of mine - also a priest - in my hometown in Upstate New York.  In addition to the things most friends talk about generally, we digress occasionally into discussions about theology, the church, and the differences between our two dioceses.  Most recently, we talked about how his bishop was boasting about how he was going to confirm 500 people at an upcoming diocesan event and what a great thing it was for the church that so many people were making their commitment to Christ in a church so in need of growth in numbers.

My friend and I share a (sometimes) frighteningly common history.  The portion of that history which is important here is that we both had careers in broadcasting before we became priests.  In our former lives, we lived and died by the numbers game.  Twice, sometimes four times a year depending on the market we were in, radio and TV stations went through an agonizing ratings period.  For weeks prior to the latest Arbitron "book" we programmers would be cooking up all sorts of gimmicks to get people to listen to our station and remember who we were when they were filling out the sacred sample sheets or were talking to some pollster on the phone.  We created contests, gave away cars, money, trips; got bumper stickers on as many cars as we could; spent vast quantities of money to advertise, just to keep our name in front of the listener and get him or her to listen for as long as possible, as often as possible.  All because RATINGS meant MONEY for the sales department, and an EGO BOOST for us jocks.  Numbers were life.  The Book was our bible and we lived and died by it four times a year.  Jobs were made and lost by ratings.

It seemed to us as we talked that the church was pretty much in the same boat.  It is concerned about flagging attendance and is seeking all sorts of gimmicks to get more people through the doors like rave masses and multi-media events to get the GenX and Millenial crowd, revivals and other fads geared to get the "un-churched" into a service.  The church is obsessed with head counts at services and growth trends.  But the church misses the point: in the end, numbers don't matter.

In all of the stories about him in scripture, Jesus encountered multitudes of people at the height of his ministry and they followed him.  He taught them, loved them, and fed them.  But where were the five thousand he fed with a few loaves of bread and some fish when he was hung on the Cross?  Where was the multitude by the sea who witnessed the casting out of demons and fell down before him shouting, "You are the Son of God!" as he cried out to God on the Cross?  And where were the people of Samaria who followed him because they had been told by a lowly woman who met him at a well, "He told me everything I have ever done," when he breathed his last, gave up his spirit, and died on the Cross?

The people who were there in the end, the ones who were so moved by his life and death, were the ones whom Jesus met one on one.  The fundamental aspect of Jesus' most effective ministry was that he changed lives one at a time.  Every healing event, every saving event, every event in which new life began found Jesus and one other.  The multitudes were impressed - but they quickly moved on to the next Big Event.  The ones who experienced Jesus the way he was meant to be experienced, found the Kingdom of Heaven and stayed for ever.

The Church needs to remember its foundation: the life of the Son of God who took the time to meet people where they were, who refused to judge them, who talked to them as a brother - intimately, lovingly, peering deeply into their souls, who showed them that God was more than a temple and a religion with rules.  That is our true calling as the Church of Jesus Christ - to be open to the opportunities which abound to be a brother or a sister to another at a time when they most need us regardless of who they are.  The church is not about getting a packed house on Sunday mornings for an hour or so or saving souls for Jesus.  We're not about capital campaigns, fund raisers, assessments, or growth.  We are about people - all people: people of color, male or female, gay or straight, young or old, churched or unchurched, sinner or righteous, atheist, druid, seeker, Buddhist, starship captain, sewer cleaner or any other of a million labels.  Whether Jesus is for you or not, what he taught is for all to ponder.  A Companion on the Way is what we desire most when our spirit flags and our world turns upside down.  The church must be about encouraging us to give away that which we have discovered on our own quest for God or Spirit or Life and in so doing to expect nothing in return.  It seems a foreboding task because it calls us to change the way we live, to get out of ourselves and become aware, perhaps for the first time, of the wonder of people around us.

Remember the words of Gandhi in the face of what seems to be an impossible task: "Whatever you do will be insignificant and it is very important that you do it."  When we find ourselves faced with a choice of either entering into a project to bring justice and peace to the White House, Iraq or the corner flop house by entering into life to help, or just packing it in saying, "But I'm only just one person," remember Jesus himself, those like him - you and me, and know that just one is enough. 

12:33:11 PM
Make a Comment []