Joining God in the Neighborhood

Way back in the dark ages (in the early 2000's) I worked on and was ultimately granted a Doctorate in Ministry (D.Min.) degree from Columbia Theological Seminary in Decatur, Georgia. We were talking in that program, on "Gospel and Culture," about the Missional Church. Before it was cool!

These days everyone is asking with Alan Roxburgh and others about how we join with God in the neighborhood. How do we leave the building to go and see what God is up to? I think it's a great question - the question in fact. All who follow Jesus, all around the world, are sent into the world. When the worship ends, the service begins. This has always been at the heart of the gospel.

So I don't mean to minimize the work of Roxburgh and those who went before him: Lesslie Newbigin and David Bosch and Darrell Guder (who was one of my teachers at CTS) and George Hunsberger and many others. I just need to say that I learned this truth first in Sunday School in the 1970's from Katharine Bates, who taught me to sing:

I believe this. And in diocesan ministry I've had to live this, trying to help people to realize that the church is not a building, but a people. That when buildings are closed or sold, the Church doesn't stop existing. Because the Church is not a building; the Church is a people. And what we are about is the Missio Dei, the mission of God in the world. It's been true from the very first Pentecost, even if at times we have suffered from amnesia.

In this difficult time in which we are living, I see an opportunity that I fear we are in danger of missing. I feel as sad as other people of faith do that we are currently out of our buildings. I get it that as sacramental catholic Christians we are missing the Eucharist. But I find myself asking: what can we learn during this wilderness time?

Well, perhaps we can put all these words into action, and open our eyes to what God is in fact actually doing in our neighborhoods.

I've seen more people walking in the past week than ever before. I live in New England which is not known for it's southern hospitality. At best when you see a stranger you might look at them. Maybe smile. But people in New England are actually talking to one another. For real. I'm not even kidding!

Not too far away, in Central New York, I read about this happening at my beloved Wegmans. Truly it brought a tear to my eye. It's also been my own experience at Wegmans in Northborough, MA. To be clear, no one has yet paid for my groceries nor have I given up any eggs, or toilet paper. But people have been kinder and friendlier in this time of social distancing. Or more accurately, in this time of physical distancing, people have been more social. People, at least those I see, are yearning for human connection.

Today I was walking in my neighborhood and one of the local prophets had written some words of hope to all those walkers.

"Spread joy in the world." What incredible wisdom! "Joy to the World," we sing at Christmas time. And then "let earth receive her king....let heaven and nature sing!" Not let the people gathered in the Church receive their king but let the whole world sing with the angels. Because, after all, God so loved the world!

I have nothing but respect and admiration for my mostly Luddite clergy friends who are learning to Zoom and learning how to offer worship through Facebook Live. Truly, they are a blessing. And truly we need some old familiar patterns of worship because it grounds us in the living God.

And yet, I hope that the disruptions we are all experiencing might also be an opportunity to reflect: where is God in the midst of all this disruption? It turns out God is in the neighborhood. The time is now for us to be there too - to be good neighbors in anxious times.