Sunday Morning

I see and hear the most interesting things as I travel the roads on Sunday mornings, en route to one or more of our congregations. Some of them are hilarious; some  of them are profound .

Today, the encounter was profound and provocative.  As I was on my way to Summerville and Beersheba, I happened to turn to  a Public Radio Station and  “On Being” with host, Krista Tippett.  She was interviewing Sari Nusseibeh, a Palestinian philosopher, a Muslim, and President of the Arab university of Jerusalem.  They spoke of many things, but what struck me the most was what this Muslim man said about Jesus…   here is a bit of the transcript[i]:

Ms. Tippett: It’s interesting to me that, in your writing, you’ve invoked the — as a Muslim, you’ve invoked the image of Christ and the spirit of Christ as one  potentially healing image for Palestinians.

Ms. Nusseibeh: Well, for more than one reason. I mean, one reason, of course, is that — and this is not being flippant — but we do look upon him as an ancient Palestinian.

Ms. Tippett: Yes, yes.

Ms. Nusseibeh: As a forefather, but the other reason is that, in fact, as a Palestinian also, I feel very much that everywhere you look in this country, you sense his presence. You know, the more that you find out about his history and the more that you find out about the different locations and so on and so forth, you cannot but feel, you know, that he is very much there. And finally, the message that he is as,  which is, I believe, extremely important, very significant, very important for us as Muslims and Jews in this part of the world, of love, of compassion and really it’s the only pure message of peace that exists for us.  I mean, we can always say that Mohammed also, you know, had the message of peace or he was peaceful and that Jews can probably say this about — but I think, you know, when you look at Christ, Christ was everything — I mean, it was just peace. He was just a message of peace and, in that, I think there’s a unique kind of important significance for us fighting in this particular region.

As I listened to this, I found myself wondering how many Christians could be as succinct and eloquent as this man is about the life, presence and meaning of Christ. Sadly, I think that many of us are more adept at talking about our churches than we are about Jesus.

It reminds me of a national pizza chain’s advertising campaign a decade or so ago – for the full 60-90 seconds of the commercial, they touted their packaging … not their pizza, but the box.  Maybe I’m skeptical, but those commercials made me think that if they were hyping to box so much, it must mean that the pizza itself was not very good.

I think that often, we in the church fall prey to the same mistake… we hype the church instead of Christ.  We talk about our “warm and caring” congregation; about how good the educational opportunities and the child care are.  We talk about what a great choir we have.  But that is selling the box and not the pizza!   When we tout the church and its programs, we’re selling ‘the church’ and not the God we have seen and come close to in Jesus Christ.  Let us be clear… people today are not hungry for the box… they are hungry for GOD and for a genuine spirituality.

You may say, ‘everyone knows that a church is about God’ but we can’t assume this anymore.  Most people haven’t a clue, because they and/or their parents have rejected the church and Christianity with it.  Even if they do know that church is about God, they may not want the God they think we worship.  (They may think the church box contains a cheese pizza, while they’re hungry for Supreme.)

Finding the words is difficult.  I grew up in a fundamentalist denomination, which emphasized God’s displeasure with humanity.  I was baptized at age 12, primarily in order to secure fire insurance.  Over time (and via the Presbyterian Church, U. S. A.), I discovered another side to God and faith… one that is loving, welcoming, joyful, concerned with the issues of life in the here-and-now as well as life in the here-after.  Yet it is hard for me to talk about it… I don’t have good words yet for this amazing love affair I’m involved in.  The familiar language I grew up with sounds like Jerry Fallwell or Pat Robertson. And so, I am often silent about my spiritual life and tempted instead to invite people to come to our great church.

I am more and more convinced that this tactic will not work in today’s world.  People have so many choices for education, activities, music and for fun (and most are superior to those they can find at a church).  Despite this access to wonderful programs and clubs, people also have a huge spiritual hunger.  Look at the growth in all manner of spiritual disciplines, from yoga and meditation to the rise in Buddhism and Islam.  Why are these spiritual groups growing while the Christian church struggles?  Because these groups sell the pizza… they talk openly about the spiritual benefits and gifts their faith brings them.  And we must learn to do the same.

So, we struggle for new language to articulate our faith.  It may be helpful to begin with a list of things we reject:  judgementalism,  a God who is only concerned with your eternal soul and not your body or present circumstances, etc. But at some point, we must also be able to speak affirmatively about  God and what we know of God in Christ

My prayer for all of us is that we would get in touch with God in Christ, find the words to speak of Him, and then… to share.,.Him .