Waiting at our local Conrad’s Tire and Auto, I saw a hard-covered book on the history of this 30-store chain. It was started after the War by Joan and Ed Conrad. They were and are a staunch Irish Catholic family. They and their kids went to Catholic schools I recognized from the old neighborhood.
Their story brought to mind a classic Irish Catholic neighbor of ours. Their family’s kids and ours played a lot together. I admire this Mom of seven children. Raised in a faithful Irish Catholic family herself, she did and does go to mass every morning.
As I reminisced, I thought, we know who we are and why we’re here. We are created by God to worship him and to serve others.
Back then both Catholic and Lutheran church bodies had strong institutions, especially with grade schools, high schools and universities. Those institutions are in retreat. The Catholic bishop of Cleveland closed or merged 50 parishes. In the Cleveland area, we lost four Lutheran grade schools in the past ten years, and the city congregations still remaining are barely hanging on.
How many children and adults today know with strong conviction that they are created by God to worship him and to serve others? How many have any answer at all to the fundamental life questions, who am I and why am I here? For several generations, our public schools have been forced to teach our country’s apparent theology that there is no God and we are just products of evolution with no purpose to our living and no reason for character development.
The old church institutions provided what sociologist Peter Berger called the “sacred canopy” for living. From birth on we experienced an integrated understanding of God and our roles in family, church and work. It was impressed on many of us in Sunday school, church grade school, church high school as well as a church university. Spend twenty years in those church and school institutions and you know who you are and why you are here.
We were in constant contact with many adults who reminded us who we are and why we are here. Guilt provided a lot of motivation to behave as expected. We learned valuable lifetime habits, like praying and going to church. Most tried to live out their confirmation vow. But when institutions crumble, the habits they ingrained start disappearing, as do the motivations based on habit. Children raised on evolutionary theory no longer see human life as special, let alone sacred.
When I was a Navy Reserve chaplain billeted to a unit in St. Louis, I would be called on to do funerals for Vietnam casualties and as well as veterans on their request. I remember one vet who gave no indications of spiritual life or admirable qualities. I complained to a Jesuit chaplain friend about how uncomfortable that made me. He set me straight. That man was created in the image of God. His body deserves to be treated with dignity. Do your duty.
That was a fresh insight to me about the meaning of the Genesis statement that God created humans in his image. Scholars debate exactly what that image and likeness consist of. At a minimum, it means humans and their God-created bodies are special and different from the rest of creation. The word for that is sacred—set apart to be treated with dignity. The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Arlington Cemetery is sacred space for Americans and is given the dignity of an around-the-clock honor guard.
Do your own survey of young adults about whether they live with biblical assumptions. Where would they ever learn the biblical worldview? They could get that historic view only from Christians and their churches.
Include in your informal survey of teens a question about how many have ever been in a church for a worship service. You will be amazed.
Probably the best way for us elders to engage youth in this life-defining discussion is to insist that life is sacred, and then challenge them to define what that means.
David – Your insights are helpful. I am in a congregation where significant growth has never taken over, but there is spiritual vibrancy. We see miraculous healings of the Holy Spirit, and there is a humility that has come with that. There is a tangible love for God and others, which is a blessing. What has not come is a heart change to actually connect with people who are lost. We do some things in the community and have a reputation that is positive in the community, but as a whole, we have lacked the clear strategies to connect at a “need” level in individual’s lives. At this point, I look at the clear strategies and their execution as what we have lacked in our busy, secular world, to actually reach the lost for Christ in a more effective way. Christ and the Spirit are alive, but the specific strategies and the execution of them are needed. Thoughts?
Thank the Spirit for your insights. I think I have come up with a strategy in the last month. It is for a congregation to launch virtual church fellowships. The one I have is based on Facebook groups. I hope soon to have a new website http://www.virtualfellowships.church. This all developed in the last three weeks, thanks to the Spirit moving on a group I was teaching about the Spirit.
Dave
Dave — I think you’re on to something with virtual church fellowships. There is a nice connection between the way you describe them and what we will be attempting to launch with a Lent-Easter weekend series inspired by Greg Finke’s book “Joining Jesus on His Mission.” His five mission practices/questions to be asked within a missional community could fit well with the virtual church fellowship concept. Thank you for inviting the church to think and act through the significant social changes of the past three decades!
Tom Ahlersmeyer, I agree, so many people think that if they go to church and are involved they will go to heaven, but they have to really KNOW Christ as their Savior and to live that life & be in His word to keep growing. Carol Albright
Yes, this is what I am trying to do. Perhaps we can join together sometime to advance the cause.
Dave
You talk about being motivated by guilt. I remember those days as well. I am compelled by what motivates me, what drives me. And, I’ve always been interested in discussions about dignity and the sacredness of life, being created in the image of God. This work of God that motivates us I understand to be the Holy Spirit, if only we can, by the grace of God, remove barriers that hinder this work. I think the “sacred canopy” includes the law, the Gospel, and the life giving power of the Holy Spirit. I pray, “LORD, help us keep from any hindrance that would impede this gift and fruit of yours to grow and experience renewal everyday.”
Great statement. Great prayer.
Pastor Luecke, your insights on the problems are right on. I just think we don’t need strategies to correct them. Romans ch. plainly tells us everyone knows God exists, but suppress Him in their unrighteousness. And they are without excuse.
This Law message is not a very popular one, but needs to be proclaimed, immediately followed by the Gospel! The young people in this country who have fallen away or those who rejected Christ all to together, need to hear this!
The Holy Spirit working through this Law Gospel message doesn’t need strategies to be effective. It’s as simple as our Pastors proclaiming this from their pulpits and maybe a few public squares as well. Parishioners sharing this Holy Spirit life changing message in their work places and to their neighbors. We LCMS Lutherans also need to start acting like we believe this message also, the unbelievers are watching us.
What you describe is a strategy, a good strategy historically. The question is whether that strategy will be effective today. Law/Gospel if fundamental. Can we use other words to make the point more understandable to people with less education? Years ago I read an AAL survey of Lutherans. Almost half reported that they will go to heaven because of the good life they lived. How can that happen to someone who spent years hearing Law/Gospel preachers and teachers? Some people never get past Stage 2 thinking that you have to give to receive, what’s fair is fair. I would like to have a discussion about how to preach Law/Gospel more effectively today. I just listened to a Christian radio discussion of the question whether it is OK to substitute other words for sin, like brokenness that is more effective to Millennials. Can we say the substance in a different style?
Sacred canopies can become sacred cows when we are turned inward. By the Spirit’s work we are being changed to be the influence God desires for us in our community. Inviting others along to participate (2 Peter 1: 4) in this change is exciting and is bearing fruit as God would have it. Thanks for your insights. I will be glad to share them! Blessings…
Yes, the LCMS does have a lot of sacred cows that we tell in our own LCMS code language.
Dave
Hello, David ~
In my opinion, one sacred cow we have in the LCMS is keeping our kids away from the Lord’s Supper way too long with our slavish and seriously flawed devotion to the rite of confirmation. In our mission congregation, we begin catechesis when the parents believe their youngsters are ready. And the youngsters begin receiving the Lord’s Supper also when the parents believe they are ready. Not at the totally arbitrary age of 14.
How is your church plant going? I see you are in Iowa, which has a lot of Lutherans. It sounds like your plant is reaching mostly Lutherans. Best wishes for its continued growth!