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Pastor Aprille's Message
“Was it nice at Chico or did it snow?” Yes! It was very nice and it snowed continually. It was glorious. The hot wadda turned me into a lobster twice, daily.
What happens besides eating and soaking at Chico? We worship lots. We hear the “State of the Synod” address from our presiding bishop, Jessica Crist. We learn. We have lectures, usually given by seminary professors with the exception that this year we heard from a sociologist employed by the ELCA in Chicago.
I think what he had to say makes sense to us here at Immanuel. One lecture in particular brought clarity. He juxtaposed two types of societies: Traditional and Modern. Think the difference between small town American and big city or Eastern Montana and Missoula.
In traditional societies, people are homogeneous. They think pretty much the same, and are mostly from the same social strata with deep relational ties to one another. In such societies, you know what is expected of you, there isn’t a lot of questioning as to why things are done the way they are and to belong means you accept what has been and is forever more. Outsiders who come in to such societies have one choice: learn the rules, and learn who is in power. The main job of an outsider is to change themselves to fit into the society. Ties run deep in traditional societies. Lutheran congregations mostly reflect a traditional society. (If you ever moved into a small town, or even a Lutheran congregation, this all rings true. You are still new there after at least 15 years.)
Modern Society, the one we live in today, is typified by a division of labor. Money talks. You pay for services rendered. If my car breaks down, I don’t ask my neighbor to fix it, I call AAA. If I need sugar, I go buy it. We don’t intend to have relationships with people we live by or with whom we do business. We are more isolated and don’t want to be imposed upon or impose upon our neighbors. Relational ties are weaker. Large mega church congregations reflect modern society in that they pay their staff to do the ministry for them. If parishioners aren’t receiving the care and getting their needs met, if something goes wrong, they move on. It’s called the exchange. If I don’t like a restaurant’s food, I simply don’t eat there. So with church—I withdraw funds and go elsewhere, if I go anywhere. It’s the mindset of modernity.
What of this for us here at Immanuel? What makes sense to me is that we come and go weekly between these two worlds. We make this switch from “modern life” into a traditional mindset at church once a week. No wonder there is often a disconnect between Sunday morning and the other days of the week.
An “outsider” who isn’t used to these traditional ways, needs a modicum of courage and confidence just to walk through any door of any church on their own. You are an “outsider” coming into the “insider” world of a traditional society.
What can we do? Keep doing what we are doing because people do walk in these doors by the pull of the Holy Spirit. And when they do, I appreciate that we can be sensitive to them. Some of them look like they might need space they want to come to meet God in silence and go out with that. The thing to do is remember them in prayer. Some folks it’s easy to see are looking around—they look a bit like they sure would appreciate one person saying hi and introducing themselves. Some folks are ready to share; they are looking for a church home and want to be welcomed. They want an interested listener to engage them.
The other thing we do, is even more difficult and of greatest importance. We leave this safe insider place each week and become a carrier of the gospel outside these doors. Every week, we take the gospel and hit the road with it taking it into our homes, work places and beyond. There God uses us to bring in the kingdom of God. That is the harder work, yet that is what Jesus did. So we do it to with God’s grace.
Thanks for being the church Immanuel…
And thanks for sending me to Chico. I needed that!
Peace,
Pastor Aprille