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C. S. Lewis wrote that the charge to Peter was feed my sheep, not try experiments on rats. Feeding the sheep is an immense challenge to clergy and church leaders today. Part of the problem is that a lot of us sheep don’t know the difference between good pasture and poison nettles. We chomp anything under our noses that catches our fancy and end up bloated with spiritual indigestion. Our society is evaluative. Politicians poll our opinions. Manufacturers monitor our preferences. Audience and market satisfaction determine value. Does it sell, please, entertain? Some of contemporary evangelism, based on Madison Avenue marketing techniques seems akin to experiments on rats. Carefully orchestrated and rehearsed persuasive techniques manipulate our vulnerabilities to get others to buy our theology. Was your pew comfortable? Did the pastor’s tie or earrings distract or contribute to your worship experience? What did you think of the music, the sermon, the person sitting next to you? Could you easily find a place to park? This sort of thinking encourages a culture of entitled religious brats and snobs, not followers of Jesus. Rather than polling opinions on worship style, I want to ask questions like these:
What did you hear God saying to you?
How might I help you listen to God better?
Why do you suppose the choir bothered you so much?
What do you hear God saying to you in your dissatisfaction?
Are you changed in any way?
Has your compassion for others increased?
Did the service inspire you to act for justice?
Were you able to forgive someone or fully see the consequences of some sin you committed?
Did you find the courage and hope to persevere through some difficult time?
Most of the reasons why people stay away from churches boils down to not feeling fed. Like Methodist layman, Coleman McGregor, they say of the church:
I knew it was not good for me; it was strangling me, but I didn't’ know why. I did not know what it was. I mean they’re good people, they’re doing good things, but I’m dying. I think what may be missing is not so much engaging worship or great preaching or friendly ushers, but rather contact with the divine. As Evelyn Underhill reminded a group of Anglican priests, “God is the interesting thing.” What is missing in many churches is a quiet secluded place to shed an old skin. What is needed is a sacred place in which to be vulnerable and to be intimate with God.
Robert Wuthnow identifies three stages of American spirituality in the past fifty years. A spirituality of dwelling or place, where the holy is strictly separated from the profane and God is found in the church, to a spirituality of seeking where God is found on the move, in the world, outside and along side the church, to the current trend of a spirituality of practice. “Spiritual practice takes this kind of seeking a step further, adding the vital element of sustained commitment, without which no life can have coherence. Practices may be messier than the commanders of large-scale institutions would like, but they ultimately sustain these institutions by giving individuals the moral fortitude to participate in them without expecting to receive too much from them.”
The sheep are getting a portion of their food outside the church. A website called findthedivine.com, which lists retreat centers, retreat opportunities and spiritual guides gets 5000 hits a day. Books on prayer and daily devotional guides are big sellers. Individuals are taking responsibility for their own spiritual development by reading, prayer, attending retreats, listening to tapes, and practicing other spiritual disciplines. Cafeteria style, dilettantish spirituality has given way to the solid food of committed spiritual disciplines. “To say that Americans have become narcissistic in their spiritual orientations and to argue that they need to overcome this obsession by participating in congregations and by doing volunteer work is a gross oversimplification of the situation,” according to Wuthnow.
“I value the institution, but as my relationship with God has become more important subjectively and objectively, I’ve been drawn more into that and drawn less into the institution...he felt a need to withdraw from the circle of people he knew at his church. “I needed to break out of that little circle,” he recalls. “I needed that so badly, I was dying. I was dying just being caught in this little tiny group. I knew it was not good for me; it was strangling me, but I didn’t know why. I didn’t know what it was. I mean, they’re nice people, they’re good people, they’re doing good things, but I’m dying.” Coleman gradually came to realize that he felt this way because the group focused its attention too much on its members and not enough on their relationship with God.
Robert Wuthnow quoting Methodist layman, Coleman McGregor
On any Sunday morning in most any congregation I find myself I can feel the wild lonely yearning of a God passionately in love with those who gather. I also can feel the hunger of bewildered and besieged souls hanging onto peace by a thread. Sometimes I have to restrain myself from prostrating myself and beating my fists on the chancel floor beseeching God to help feed these sheep. I think we have little idea of the passion that seethes just below the surface of most sedate worshippers. Though more often than not it is our self interest that gets us in the door or on our knees, we go to church not for what we can get out it, but for what God can get out of our presence. It may be hard for such a notion to carry much meaning for us unless we have encountered this hungry God longing to be with us. We go because we recognize ourselves as holy people God has called into service. And we go because all the splendid spiritual disciplines in the world cannot fill our need for the support of one another, God bless us, sinners one and all.
Loretta Ross-Gotta
The Sanctuary
7025 SW Tenth St
Topeka, KS 66615
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