Our church has been sustained over the years by the Holy Spirit and the many beautiful people willing to give. There were glory years- the times when things could not have been better and there were lean years. Ours is a building that is not easy to maintain. When the organ needs a repair, it’s not cheap. When the roof or steeple needs a repair, it’s not cheap. Every home or car owner has to deal with the expected and unexpected expenses that come along. One church I served had to spend $5000 to have pigeon poop cleaned from the belfry. We certainly didn’t have that planned in our budget.
We now live in a world we have to imagine a church without a belfry, steeple or an organ? We have to imagine a church with masks, physical distancing, plexi-glass protection, very little singing and no human contact.
Churches are at a crossroads!
Covid times has us questioning what church is all about. What does it mean to worship God? What does it have to look like? Should we meet at all costs, even if the most extreme example would be that it would cost us the lives of the most vulnerable? Most would say, that’s a road we don’t want to go down. What’s down the other road? We continue to do what we we’re doing, even though we know that we are leaving people behind on the road.
Then there is an entirely different road—some churches are forced with the idea of closing, or yoking with another church and sharing a pastor, or even just cutting staff hours and salaries. This was a pre-Covid concern, but it has become more real during these strange and interesting times.
Those by the side of the road want the postcard white clapboard or beautiful brick church on their town square, but aren’t always expected to support it financially. People expect churches to always be there for them when they need a place for a wedding, baptism or general spiritual support. They expect that the church will provide social services and Christian education for the young people and occasionally provide free space for a community project. Yes, we need to do all of these things for our community. The church is at a crossroads right now in time.
I remember reading about a wave of time when many people left the church. It was during the Vietnam war. Many young people were disenchanted when their church remained silent. They found that their church was out of touch with what was current in the world. They were silent, and they ushered out a generation.
Do you remember life before Federal Express? The idea of overnight mail seemed ludicrous. But someone had the idea of a hub that received everything in one day, and got it delivered the next. It could be done and it was a game changer!
Do you remember life before Amazon? Amazon used to just sell books.
Do you remember when Netflix used to send out dvds in the mail?
Do you remember life before Facebook? Google? Apple? Microsoft?
A network dedicated to just news. A network dedicated to only sports.
People laughed off all of these ideas. They were outrageous. The wise and the learned had no idea what was right in front of them, and they missed their time. Outrageous, ludicrous, outlier prophets with their unconventional wisdom, changed the world! How many scoffed at their ideas and missed a moment?
Have you ever been there—on the outside looking in? Have you ever said, “If only I had taken this road in life, instead?” Of course you have, we all have. If we like where we are now, then it makes historical revision a little easier to swallow. “Well, I did a lot of dumb things—but if I changed anything I wouldn’t be where I am now, and I’m pretty happy with my life right now.”
But for many people its simply not the case. Regret and shame control people’s lives. The end of this morning’s scripture should give us comfort for the times that we have walked down the wrong road.
Jesus says, “Come to me all who are carrying a heavy burden…Take my yoke upon you. My yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” You can walk right beside Jesus and know that step for step- he will walk with you, and more than that—he will help you carry your load. He will walk with you, every step of that road until it is time to let it go.
Life happens in the moments. You can choose to let Jesus help you, or…This is a moment to decide. This is a moment for our church to decide. This is a moment for our community, and our country to decide. Are we going to do the right thing—because this is OUR time. What road are we going to take?
It is our time to make this church a beacon for Christ in our community. It is our time to act and minister, and make possible the mission and ministry of our church for future generations. This is the moment we accept the truth about God and Jesus Christ. This is the moment we accept what God has done through Christ. This is the moment of our salvation.
We are at a crossroads. We can go forward, or to the left or right. But it sure doesn’t make sense to keep looking back. In the words of an Irish poet, “When you glorify the past, the future dries up.”
We are at a crossroads—we have to decide who we want to be. In the words of a North Carolina poet, “Decide what to be and go be it!”
