Go All Out to Get In
21st Sunday : 25 August 2013 : Luke 13: 22-30
Father Hugh Bowron, 2013Just recently the Principal of one of the Church of England’s largest theological colleges was speaking here in Dunedin. One of his more memorable anecdotes concerned his son’s membership of the local Cub pack. When dropping him off outside the local Den he found a group of concerned mother’s anxiously discussing the latest communication from Akela. Akela had sent out a letter informing the parents that the annual Church parade was about to take place at the local parish Church, that the event was compulsory for all Cubs, and that they were to be kitted out in black shoes and a tidy uniform for the occasion.
It was the word "compulsory" that had got the mothers stirred up. Surely Akela didn’t mean that in the literal sense? Didn’t that mean come to the Church parade as long as it doesn’t conflict with any other major hobby or interest group that our child belongs to? Or perhaps it meant we would love to see you there, providing it doesn’t interrupt what your family usually does on Sunday morning?
Martyn Percy realised that he was witnessing one of the major changes that has come about in our culture. People want the benefits of a distinctive and traditional youth organisation for their children but are reluctant to go along with the requirements that are associated with that. The notion that belonging, community and the transmission of good values come with a price tag has become a foreign idea. A consumerist attitude has developed about belonging to any group. You cherry pick the things you like about it, and leave the rest. You stick with a group for as long as it does what floats your boat, and leave as soon as it no longer takes your fancy.
We live in a culture in which nothing is compulsory, apart from paying taxes or going to jail.
Over the past three decades I have watched this cultural shift play out in the life of congregations and parishes. Of course Anglican parishes have always had parishioners at various stages of commitment, ranging from the there every Sunday group, to the once or twice a monthers, to the Christmas and Easter brigade. And most parishes still have an enthusiastic core group who loyally attend just about everything on offer.
But the committed group at one degree out from that tend to be less committed. They come to Church less often than they used to, and they are more easily deflected from coming than they used to be. If there is a choice between the obligation of Sunday worship or something on in a leisure or hobby group, the alternative attraction almost always wins out. If house guests are staying for the weekend for whom Church is a novelty, instead of saying, "please entertain yourself for an hour, I will be back soon," or, "I’m going to Church, why don’t you come with me," they quietly stay at home so as not to rock the boat. The central Services of Holy Week on Maundy Thursday evening, Good Friday, and Holy Saturday evening are ignored, as are other high points in the Christian year with their extra and joyous celebrations.
The religious culture that Jesus grew up in was more highly committed than ours, but it shared with us a background attitude of entitlement and complacency. As the chosen people we can expect that God will overlook our partial fulfilment of his expectations of us. He knows who his friends and supporters are, and just because we weren’t there at Synagogue every Sabbath doesn’t mean that we will be left out when the final feast of eternal life begins.
Which is why his hearers would have been as startled as we are by the way in which Jesus in this morning’s gospel passage repositioned the whole pattern of expectations about what it takes to touch down between the winning posts. The message is, "Go all out to get in." It becomes apparent that whole heartedness, and steady determination, and full-blooded participation are the name of the game in becoming included in his team. It is not enough to say we associated with you when you were around our neighbourhood; we attended your revival meetings when you were in town, we paid our dues, at least in a minimal sense.
The tone of this morning’s gospel passage is of urgent concern that we might miss out, find ourselves on the outer, regretting forever the lost opportunity, be looking in from the outside at the great feast in which surprising people have been included as honoured guests instead of us. The invitation list isn’t apparently drawn up on the basis of the small joiners fee that we thought was enough to cover our bets. It takes all of us, the whole of our life, the complete pattern of who we are and what we care about to ensure that we cross the finish line. There is no time to lose, there are no grounds for complacency, be in now with all that you have.
The Church is Christ’s body on earth – it is the place and the space in which his presence is maximally present in the world. For all its faults, and limitations, and the disappointments and disagreements that inevitably go with attempts to make it the community of his character and reputation, it is also the arena in which the Holy Spirit steadily works to make the good things of God available in its life. It also has unique community characteristics that are increasingly rare in our highly individualised society. And the pattern of regular worship at the heart of its life is a jewel of great price that has attracting power to renew our lives.
When we stay away from Church we are the ones who miss out. God can survive without our worship and devotion. But something withers in us when we do not give him the offering of the heart on a regular basis. And it is hard to experience his presence and to enjoy his company unless we turn to him often in prayer. Sunday worship exists for our benefit. Being a part of it once a week is what it takes to sustain us in our Christian walk. That Akela in Oxfordshire was on to something when she said that the Cub Church parade was compulsory.
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