i know you're tired of trying

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A sermon for when everything ends but nothing changes:

I have a confession: I’ve been looking forward to today. For me, today is the culmination of  Easter. And Easter isn’t even over yet! How lucky are we?!? We are, of all people, most blessed.

As you know, today is colloquially known as “low Sunday.” And the reason for that is obvious enough today: gone are the Easter crowds! In fact, absent are even the most regular of worshippers today. Only the church rats turn up on the Sunday after Easter or Christmas. And for all I know, some of you are only here today because you have to be! Maybe you’re a counter or deacon. 

But you know what? I like Sundays like this. I admit it; I’m a bit of a church rat myself. In a way, this makes me less than an ideal pastor. I’m probably a bit too ambiguous about the crowds. I think I get a little too much of a charge from the humble gatherings where the only people who turn up are the ones who, for one reason or another, can’t seem to help it.

As it is, Sundays like today are usually treated with a little less attention. The show is over. Only the most habitual churchgoers bother to darken the church doors today. And everyone knows the pastor won’t have their best stuff today, either. No one is expecting much. The stakes are lower. 

What if they’re not, though? What if the stakes are actually higher today? What if the empty tomb isn’t the real crisis? What if life after the empty tomb is what’s really challenging? What if those of us who are here today are really here because we want to know if it’s all still true? 

It’s easier to believe on Easter Sunday. Isn’t it? When the church swells, there’s less room for those nagging doubts. But it’s harder to believe when the rest of the world has moved on. For the church rats like us who are here today, and I mean really here, the real reason we’re here is because we want to know if it’s still true after the world has failed to change…

That brings me to my question for you today: What would you say is a significant challenge for the church nowadays? And why? And, by the way, the why is the part I’m really curious about. Start thinking about your answer, too. I’m going to ask us to share.

Honestly, I sort of hesitate to ask this question. I already know all the usual suspects. Attendance is down, and the average age is up. The expenses are growing, and the coffers are shrinking. 

Fair enough. I’d be lying if I didn’t say those facts weren’t challenging. However, that’s just data! And in the year 2024, it’s well-documented and old information, too! What I want to know is why those realities present such a challenge for the church today. 

And if the answer seems obvious to you, examine your prejudices. Next week, Peter will say he doesn’t have a nickel to his name. For many years, poverty wasn’t a challenge for the church. It was a point of pride. 

Or go back to this week’s Scripture! Count the disciples again. There are only eleven of them! Jesus began with twelve and ended with even less! But that wasn’t a problem, either. Was it?

So, if you think the decline of the institutional church is a challenge, tell me why. That’s the million-dollar question! Unless we know why numbers are important, we’ll be doomed to be forever chasing them! And worst of all, we’ll never know why! We’ll suffer a million little defeats before we finally close up shop.

I hate to spend so long on this, too! Some of you aren’t even thinking about those canaries in the coal mine. You see other problems facing the church. And good on you! 

I often think the church’s struggles seem so intractable because we’ve defined them too narrowly! We’ve been focusing on the same dead-end issues for over thirty years now! Is it any wonder we keep coming up with the same dead-end solutions in response? So, what would you say is a significant challenge for the church nowadays? And why?

…Since it’s only fair, I’ll go first. A challenge I think is facing the church is that people don’t know how to come into the church anymore! The generation that passed on church has already come and gone. Our challenge is that there’s a bunch of people who have never set foot in a church before! Our problem isn’t getting these folks to come back. It’s introducing them to the church for the very first time! 

And to complicate matters, we’re still trying to bring people back! We’re trying to respond to issues no one has anymore! People don’t know how big and influential the church used to be! And they don’t care, either! But we still think that if we can just recapture the way it used to be, people will return. But that’s not a factor for people who have never been in the church! Is it any wonder it’s not working?!?

Here’s what I see: many have already tried the Christian-less life. And they’ve learned that it’s not everything John Lennon promised it would be! People want more than this cynical, winner-take-all race to the bottom that seems to define modern life. Plus, many have bumped up against that sacred thrum of Christ’s burning heart at the center of existence, too!

There are people who want to find a community and its practices that engage this sacred mystery. The trouble is, they don’t know how to get into the church anymore! Worse still, they’re not even sure that’s what worship is about! 

That’s a new challenge. Isn’t it? And yes, that makes it hard. But it’s a good challenge, too. Wouldn’t you say? We don’t have to defend the church anymore. We just have to learn how to witness to it now.

And as for why that’s important, when the church loses its witnesses, it loses itself. The church is not a historical society. The church is a living witness. When the church forgets or fails to speak its promises, the church ceases to be anything at all! Plus, it’s those new converts and their questions that remind the church of the thrilling call of its founder, Jesus Christ!

…But what do you think? What would you say is a significant challenge for the church nowadays? And why? 

I hope all my chatter hasn’t influenced anyone. I really want to know what y’all think. Don’t worry about giving the right answer. Just try to give the one that’s true for you today. 

Consider the question: What would you say is a significant challenge for the church nowadays? And why? And share what you really think is the answer. Ok?

Alright. Go ahead and do that. Turn to the folks around you, and share your answer. As always, look around. If you see someone sitting by themselves, invite them to play along. What would you say is a significant challenge for the church nowadays? And why? Go!

Alright. Let’s bring it in. Thank you for playing along. I hope it was an interesting conversation. Does anyone want to share any wisdom from their group’s discussion?

Ok. Well, if anyone wants to chat more about this during coffee hour, I’m all ears. I really want to hear what you think. As I said, we need to ask better questions. What you have to say is important. After all, who knows better what it’s like to be a Christian on the ground than you?

That said, I have a concern. Now, what I’m about to say is a bit of risk. I worked on this earlier in the week, so there’s no way I could have known your answers. But I think it’s safe to venture that there may be a corrosive assumption behind a lot our responses, mine included.

Do you want to hear it? Ok. I worry that, to one degree or another, all the problems we identified assume we are in this alone. We think getting the church out of its current fix is our problem to solve!

And to the degree that we consider God at all, it’s little more than a cosmic cheerleader. God may be waiting in the wings to inspire or strengthen us, but nothing more. We presume we are the main actors in the drama. And we conceive God as so far removed and inactive as to be functionally nonexistent.

…We act as if God is only active if you acknowledge God. We seem to have gotten it in our head that if we don’t invite God in, God will go quiet. But that’s not how it works!

Sure, you can ignore God. However, all you’re really doing is ignoring reality!Today’s Scripture is clear: Christ isn’t gone. Is he? No, he’s gone up! Christ isn’t gone. He’s gone up!

Christ hasn’t left the scene. No, he’s taken his throne as the supreme ruler! As we confess, Christ now sits at the right hand of the Father! Christ isn’t absent. He’s enthroned!

And Christ is an active Lord, too! Christ is hands-on! Christ doesn’t sit back and let others do his dirty work. No, Christ actively reigns! After all, Christ didn’t come to be served. Did he? No, he came to serve!

Yes, Christ is now exalted. But he’s not sitting up in heaven twiddling his thumbs. No, Christ is getting to work in this helter-skelter world! Christ isn’t gone. He’s gone up!

Yes, for now, this presence is hidden. Isn’t it? A cloud takes Jesus from their sight. And it’s no different for us for the time being, either. We can’t see Jesus; at least, not with our earthly eyesight. 

But this by no means means Christ is absent! In fact, it means the opposite! As the two men dressed in white robes, and at that, you’re supposed to remember the Transfiguration. But anyway, as the two men say, “Why do you just stand around looking at an empty sky?” 

You caught that. Right? The sky is now empty! Christ is now filling creation with his Holy Spirted presence! Now that Christ is ascended, Christ is present everywhere and in everything, ALL of the time! 

Why, Christ is even present in his absence! Yeah, that’s the God you worship! Christ is so highly exalted that even the most God-forsaken moments are now charged with Christ himself! Not only is Christ actively ruling, but there’s also nowhere he won’t bring the power of his kingdom!

…But do you want to know the most incredible part? I know. You thought that was enough! Didn’t you? Well, think again! Christ has more up his sacred sleeve for you today! 

God isn’t just filling creation with Christ’s Holy Spirited presence. No, God is making this miracle happen through the church! That’s right, what’s happening right now is part and parcel of the unfolding mission of the Triune God! This is how Christ is presently exercising his dominion! The church is the throne from which Christ reigns!

What you and I do in here week-in and week-out matters! Regular ol’ worship is how Christ solves the problems the church faces! And his answer is as simple as gathering, praying, baptizing, and sharing communion! In these humble acts, Christ takes matters into his own wounded hands!

And if you don’t believe me, just look around! How else can you explain this?!? If it was left to you today, would you be here? I didn’t think so! But here you are, nonetheless! God is still at work!

Or just take a broader look! How could a small group of poor outcasts have started a movement that would spread throughout the globe and continue down to this very age, too? They couldn’t have! Could they? And yet, against all odds, here we are. Worship is still happening! God is still at work!

And it’s not just happening here, with us, either! No, the church is Christ’s far-flung mission field! And whenever, WHEREVER, as many as two hundred million or as few as two gather in his name, Christ advances his sovereignty! Say it with me: God is still at work!

…The church is not our project. Is it? No, the church is God’s ongoing answer to the problems we face! The church is an extension of Christ’s exaltation! And worship is how the Holy Spirit answers that prayer Jesus taught us that sums it all up: “Thy kingdom come!”

We don’t HAVE to do anything. Our only objective, if you insist on calling it that, is to get swept up in what God is doing through Christ’s church by the power of the Holy Spirit. And here’s one last surprise for you today: get on board, or don’t. It doesn’t matter! The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit will make it all happen, come what may!

And if that sounds just a little too easy, tough cookies! It’s true! Heaven and earth are uniting right here and right now! In this humble holiness, Christ is taking his seat as the king of the cosmos and bringing his reign to bear, too! 

The only reasonable thing to do now is rejoice and sing! So, let’s do that! Shall we? Our Hymn of the Day is hymn number 385. Good Christian Friends, Rejoice and Sing! 

Hymn number 385. Good Christian Friends, Rejoice and Sing! Let’s sing!