Ritual Inertia

¹⁹ And I will give unto thee the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven. And whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in Heaven, and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in Heaven.”

Do you ever put off making change-inducing decisions?  It is so much easier to allow things to continue the way they are.  Scientists have tagged this phenomenon as inertia; something about a body in motion continuing in straight-line motion until some outside force comes in and forces a change.  That guy with the ball will keep running straight to the end zone until someone from the other team makes the sacrificial effort to step up and make a violent tackle. 

The same holds true for something that is just sitting there, motionless.  It will not move until someone or something forces it to move.  That teenage boy will remain practically motionless for hours until his mother’s voice breaks into his PlayStation world.  As numbness sets in, only the danger of serious consequences can provoke movement.   An object at rest is resistant to change. It can potentially remain at rest indefinitely.

Is this not true for the church? Do we really believe in the validity of our rituals and traditions or has inertia simply maintained us on our current path? Is our current behavior stimulated from biblical Spirit-filled motivation or are we simply coasting in the same old ruts?

Have we considered the biblical responsibility of determining what it means to follow Jesus Christ today; this decade, century, millennium? ……

Do you have time for a party?

¹⁸ And I say also unto thee, that thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.

We just celebrated the second anniversary of our new church plant.  It is difficult for me to believe that it has been two years….really?

A great deal has taken place over the last two years, some of which has been extremely encouraging and uplifting, while other happenings have been tedious and discouraging.  Neither of them has changed my love for the church.  The church is beautiful, absolutely radiant.

Certainly, when I use the term, I am referring to the biblical understanding of the chosen and called out group of diverse people, hopelessly lost, but wonderfully found in the sovereignty and mercy of our all-powerful, all-knowing, all-loving creator; the lovely bride redeemed and cleansed by the enamored divine husband. The church is a wonder.

However, I am disturbed by my own tendency to revert to images that involve steeples and candles at the mention of the word, but I am determined to fight these false images in my own heart and mind in order to embrace a relational understanding that invokes passion for God Himself, as well as His most treasured creation.  Even in our most hopeless of situations and conduct, our beloved redeemer finds us in our hiding and recreates something wonderful. Certainly, this truth creates undying passion for His person and sacrificial commitment to His desires and mission.

Our anniversary celebration, although simple, proved to be significant for me.  I looked around at a packed house, encouraged and challenged by the number of youth.  Honduras, as a nation, is one of the youngest in the world, with more than 50% under the age of 18.  I would say that our group was more like 80% young.  After a meal of tamales, arroz con pollo and the celebratory cupcake, we discussed our hopes for the future. 

This morning, while working through the church dream lists from each of the dinner tables, I was impressed by the combination of vision and silliness. 

As church leadership, it is always a good idea to listen to the hopes and dreams of others.  It can be inspiring, but most of all revealing.  While trying to decipher the Spanglish, I am aware of some misinterpretations regarding the nature of church, as well as misunderstandings about our own particular vision and philosophy of ministry.  This is helpful and necessary. 

We are often unaware of the beliefs and opinions around us. We assume that attendance implies a certain level of understanding and agreement and there is no other way to affirm or correct that assumption. We need to ask the right questions and carefully listen to responses.

As the anniversary meal finished with the normal chatter, babies crying and spilled Coca-cola, we entered into a celebration of the Lord’s supper.  The attempt to create new church traditions is difficult, yet overwhelmingly necessary. 

The Lord ’s Supper is always powerful for me, but I have come to realize that we all may have strayed too far away from the Biblical model.  How do that little piece of bread and that tiny cup of grape juice begin to pattern the millenniums of traditional Passover celebrations?  We have somehow reduced the most significant Biblical anniversary party into a melodramatic ritual tacked onto the end of an overstuffed worship service.  How have we wandered so far away from the remembrance of salvation mixed with wonderful food and the extended family atmosphere?  How can we observe in 10 minutes what takes an Orthodox Jewish family 4 or 5 hours?  How could we possibly instantaneously grasp the historical significance of the liberation from Egypt and the parallel with our own new-found freedom?

As a testimony to the complicated nature of our church experience, we would find it completely impossible to fit the historical Biblical celebration into our scheduled format.  The early church would have had no problem enjoying this party and they would have anticipated these festivities all year long. 

So, if our church style is too complicated for a party, what must we change?

Murder and Relationships?

Our town, here in Honduras, has been shaken by scandalous news.  An adolescent girl and her teenage boyfriend crafted a horrible plot to murder the girl’s mother. 

A few months earlier, in the mother’s wisdom, she had discovered that the relationship was harming her 15 year-old daughter’s character and had determined to end the budding relationship.  The story is now gaining international fame for the simple reason that the youngsters were committed to their plan and a few days ago left the girl’s mother in a pool of blood on her living room floor.  Unbelievable stories were concocted to cover up the truth, but like the character from Dostoyevsky’s Crime and Punishment, the guilt of homicide was overwhelming and the young girl confessed to her family and the authorities.

This story achieves relevance to the church discussion on a personal level.  We were part of the same local church body with this family for about 3 or 4 years.  The sweet little girl spent the night in my home!

How can a person attend regular church functions and listen to an infinite quantity of biblical teaching and make this catastrophic murderous decision?  I am concerned that no one will ask these questions and that church as a local group of believers will continue to play religion as usual while the society goes to hell in a hand basket around us.

Here is part of our dilemma.  We have bought into the modern notion that propositional truth will logically solve our problems. As a matter of fact, didn’t Jesus say that the “truth would set us free”?   Well, the detail that we somehow miss in that overused and misunderstood passage is that Jesus was actually talking about Himself.  Jesus is the “truth” and a relationship with Him will set us free from all that can bind and enslave us.

Although propositional truth is necessary and even formulas can prove to be helpful, the human dilemma longs for deep meaningful relationships.  You can attend endless meticulously planned church services and listen to a million homiletically correct sermons while emotionally and spiritually starving to death, longing for a friend. 

Why do we, the church of Jesus Christ, fill our lives with such elaborate religious activity and miss the fundamental needs of the people around us? 

What would happen if the church invested more time, energy and resources in the formation of quality relationships? Would we not find it more beneficial to be able to know our brothers and sisters well?  Could we not find sensitive and creative solutions to real life problems?  

I wonder if we would be able to apply the proverbial “10-step process to a prosperous life” while our neighbor literally cries on our shoulder.  We would probably find it more practical and helpful to simply cry as well, showing our love and compassion by sharing in the grief.

Perhaps that is what scares us.  As long as the Bible lesson is theoretical, we can claim understanding while falsely assuming spiritual growth and maturity.  Is it possible to really understanding a Biblical truth that we have never attempted to apply?  Are we lazy or do we secretly doubt that these truths will actually work when applied to today’s complexity?

You ever wonder what Jesus did with His disciples for three years? You might think that is an irrelevant question, but I am convinced that it is the secret to discipleship….

You blind guides! You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel. 

                                                                                        Matthew 23:24

Have you ever tasted camel? Something tells me that it's not like chicken. I am not going to ask you whether or not you have tried to swallow one. We have all done that.

Several years ago, a good friend from California was volunteering here in Siguatepeque. He was on an extremely tight budget, Peace Corps range of money.  So, he was obliged to rent a small living space downtown.  Actually, it was a shared bedroom in the back of the house.  Calling it an apartment would be Santa Claus type generosity.  He shared the bedroom with a young Honduran man who showed no shame in borrowing his underwear and deodorant, without asking of course.

As the story unfolds, my friend spent his days teaching in a two room public school and his evenings playing with a passel of children that somehow belonged to the household as well.  As my friend practiced his developing Spanish, he learned that this was not the only home that was occupied by his way-passed-middle-aged landlord.  As the children explained, he had two other households, each with their own mother and accompanying set of numerous children. Even more startling was the fact that everyone seemed to know and no-one seemed to care. "Let me get this straight", I said to my friend, "all three women know about each other? The kids know? The whole community knows?" "Yeah", he said, "and nobody gives a flip. He splits his time up between the three houses and all three women play the role of the adoring wives and everybody pretends that everything is okay and normal. He is kind of seen as being the benevolent provider."

A few months later, I learned that one of the "wives" was actually a faithful attendee of our church. That would explain the terrified look on her face every time that we tried to serve her the Lord's Supper. Her superstitious understanding probably made her believe that the communion Welch’s grape juice was going to mysteriously turn to poison because she had participated "in a manner unworthy".  

It’s a sad commentary on what the church has inadvertently yet emphatically taught.  Somehow, we have taken a straightforward passage of scripture, I Corinthians 11, which is a warning about excluding people from the fellowship of eating the communion meals together, mainly the poor, and we have used it as an excuse to exclude people from communion, in my context, usually the poor.

Whether it was superstition or religiosity, she knew that she could not afford to be sick over a ceremony. Many church goers do not participate in the beautiful reminder of our Lord’s sacrifice because they are simply afraid.

So, she chose to remain at the underprivileged church status.   She would never be able to be baptized because she would never be able to marry so she would never participate in this celebration.  What a mess we have made! 

Meanwhile, my friend is counting his underwear every day and wondering if that ominous hair on the deodorant is his.  One day, as he is walking through the center of town, just past the Catholic Church, he notices the handmade sign at the movie theatre that announces the one and only movie option and it is amazingly something Disney.  This is a rare occurrence.  The film option is usually something about demon vampires dragging villagers back to Hades.

He knows that the sound system in that theatre is horrible and cartoons are dubbed directly to Spanish. Both details assure my friend that he will understand none of the film, but he has grander plans.

Since there are lots of little bitty kids running around his "apartment", he figures that this is the perfect time to generously invite all of them to the movies, a place none of them have ever been.

The kids were ecstatic with the news, but there was one little catch. They would need to secure permission from their benevolent father or grandfather or uncle, whatever he was. That's when it all got tricky and illuminating.

There is great freedom and boldness in innocence or naiveté. This allowed my young friend to stride right up to the patriarch and state his proposal. "Hey, there is a great little cartoon playing at the cine and I am taking all of the little kids. It will be my treat at no cost to anyone else." His silly grin turned to dismay as he listened to the angered and determined response. "We are a Christian family and we don't go to the movies, ever."

So, let's get this straight.  Mister "I'm shackled up with three different women" is giving us a morality lesson. So, even though he has never married any of these women and he continues his life of blatant sexual immorality, he has somehow gained some moral high ground by excluding the cinema from his personal list of acceptable places. How easily can selective legalism whitewash the putrid rotting interior?

My heart continues to ache with the deceptive nature of the human heart. Hyperbole helps us to see the hypocrisy of this particular case, but how sensitive am I to my own camel swallowing? What are the moral trivialities swimming around in my heart and mind that dominate my behavior? Is it possible that I have replaced following Jesus with the legalistic adherence to the norms of my tiny subculture?

For most of my public ministry, I have been concerned about the working of the local church.   As a missionary here in Honduras, I can see that the current evangelical church environment is dominated by the importance of church attendance. Did you show up or not? That’s the most important thing.  Present a pretty façade. Get a haircut. Press your shirt. Dress the girls in pretty dresses and pretend to pay attention as the preacher rambles on about the importance of showing up.

How many church leaders are secretly beating their children and their wives while presenting a united front?  How many cheat in their business or refuse to pay the sales tax? 

As I examine my own heart, I wonder why I have shown little compassion for the people around me.  What about alleviating poverty and the complexities of justice?  Don’t smoke. Don’t drink. Don’t cuss. Don’t go to movies. Close your eyes to the neighbor who is starving to death. Swallow a camel.