reflecting on the journey
Now is the time for believing!
Janus. The Roman god of doors, the god of gates. And by extension, of openings and closings. Of endings and of beginnings. He’s pictured as having two faces. One face looking back; the other looking ahead. And he’s the one for which this month is named. This is a time of transition. One year coming to an end, another just beginning. A time when memories become dreams. And, I guess, when dreams become memories, as well. Most of the time, our Januarys last thirty-one days. But figuratively speaking, sometimes they last a lot longer. What-we’ve-been and what-we’ll-become separated by – say – ninety-seven weeks. Other times, they can go on for what decades. For generations. And that’s where we’ve been, for a while. That’s where we are. As congregation … As denomination … As church …
I came across an article, last Monday. From Luther Seminary, St. Paul, Minnesota. The title says it all. “Will the ELCA be Gone in 30 Years?”
“Will the ELCA be Gone in 30 Years?”
It’s a question more than Lutherans – ELCA Lutherans – have been asking themselves. Other denominations have found themselves on the same trajectory. According to the article, by 2041, the entire ELCA will be worshiping only sixteen thousand people, any given Sunday. When the new church was formed, back in the late-Eighties, average worship attendance was over a million-and-a-half. Pre-pandemic, when the article came out, it was less than nine hundred thousand. By 2041 – just a little over twenty years from now – it won’t even be sixteen thousand people. That’s all of us. Together.
Why? Well, the authors give three reasons. First, we live in a time, in a place, that makes it difficult for people to imagine god, to imagine being led by god. Second, we’re not clear about what it, exactly, means to be Christian. We think we do. We don’t. And third, because of the first two reasons, we, Midland Lutheran Church … we, Northern Texas – Northern Louisiana Synod … we, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America … aren’t helping all that many people discover meaning for their lives.
And so, one door’s closing. But when we turn, we can’t see another door. We’re trapped. Between yesterday and tomorrow. Stuck in a January that never seems to end. That goes on and on and on. Weeks turn into months. Months into years. But February never comes. We’re ready to step aside, we’re more than ready, but there’s no one there to take our place. Not our children. Not our grandchildren. Not their children after them.
Word of God, word of life. Thanks be to God.
The gospel of the Lord. Praise to you, O Christ.
“Will the ELCA be Gone in 30 Years?”
Of course, that’s why we’re here. The first and third Sunday. Month in, month out. The ranchHouse. Beal Park. One face looking back; one face looking forward. One face remembering; the other dreaming. One leg in the past; the other in the future. It’s an awkward, an uncomfortable, position in which to be. Will We, Midland Lutheran Church … Will We be Gone … in 30 Years? … in 20 Years? … in ten? … in five?
I’d like to say, we’re in the fight of our life! But we aren’t. Not really. If it’s a fight, someone could rally the troops! Wave the flag! Beat the drum! Tactics! Strategy! Like our leaders did, after 9/11, we could all go outside, stand together on the steps, and sing our song! Show our commitment! Our devotion! Our unity! Onward, Christian soldiers! Forward! Marching! But we don’t. We can’t. It’s like a cartoon I saw, the other day. A woman’s having coffee with Jesus. “Jesus,” she said, “give me strength to battle my demons.” Jesus says, “Let’s try that, again.” She pauses, rephrases her comment. “Jesus, battle my demons!” Jesus says, “Now you’re talking!” This isn’t our battle! This isn’t our war! Ours to win! Ours to lose! It’s god’s! It’s Christ’s!
We’ve been trying to turn things around for a generation, now. Deliberately. Intentionally. We’ve had our share of restless nights. Worrying. Wondering. And we aren’t any further along than we were when we first began. Trends, are still current. For nearly forty years, two generations, we’ve gotten smaller and smaller. We’ve been growing grayer and grayer. We trust our memories. But out dreams? Those we doubt. Those we’re skeptical of. We keep saying prayers and singing songs and reading book after book after book, as we “always” have. We’ve given by the numbers. Till it hurts. Till nothing’s left. We invite our neighbors. We tell our friends. And nothing changes. And so, we write articles. Like this one. We develop one last program hoping to turn things around. Shoestring catch in the bottom of the ninth. Field goal in overtime.
But what we really need to understand is that even if current trends remain, and one day the ELCA no longer exists, there will always … there will ALWAYS … be a Lutheran, an evangelical, a gospel-rooted church! But instead of being an evangelical, Lutheran, church in America or in northern Europe of in Canada, it’ll be in centralAmerica and southAmerica and Africa and Asia! If we’re lucky, they’ll send missionaries to us as, once upon a time, we sent missionaries to them.
I have to be honest. After nearly forty years of proclaiming and administering, I don’t expect anything to change. Will the ELCA be gone in thirty years? I’m not sure it won’t. According to current trends …
But maybe – just maybe – it’s time to quit trying so hard! Trying to become something we’re not. Something other. Something more. Something we’ve never been, in a long, long time. Maybe it’s time, simply, to sit back, take a deep breath, and just relax! Sit back, take a deep breath, and do the think we Lutherans have been so good at … believing! Believe god loves! No! Matter! What! Maybe this is our chance, our opportunity, finally, to practice what we preach! Maybe this is our time, not to grasp at straws, but to believe! To have faith! To trust!
“Faith,” the good doctor tells us, “is a living, daring confidence in god’s love! A love so certain and so sure that we could stake our lives on it a thousand times!” We could! And we have! And maybe, just maybe, my friends, this is one more of those times …