DOES THE CHURCH HAVE A FUTURE?
September 2 2020
From my rural, old folks, perspective, I see the institutional church dying, Covid-19 accelerating the process. Of course, the invisible church will prevail, as outlined by the Apostles’ Creed: “I believe in the holy Catholic Church, the Communion of Saints”. It is the only one of the 12 articles that needs an explanation in the form of “communion of saints”. That, invisible and undefinable church will last till the End when the Lord returns to make ‘the communion of saints’ a visible reality.
To bring me in the ‘church’ mood, first a bit of history on the Role of the Church in my early life, my base, so to say. Of course, I was baptized there as an infant, in a large edifice, seating more than a thousand people, where my father was a frequent church officer, first as deacon and then as elder, repeatedly serving the three – year limit. Then deacons did the rounds to the poor in the church, bringing financial support as times were tough in 1928 and beyond. Then elders made home visits, questioning their parishioners about their faith commitment. Children were part of these interviews.
Thinking back decades ago: church then was the center of life, with Sunday School, followed by doctrine instruction on The Heidelberg Catechism by the minister himself, then called “Dominee”, from the Latin ‘Dominus’, meaning ‘Lord’. My goodness what a name! I eagerly attended young people meetings, teenager gatherings, male always separate from female, adult men- and women societies. On Sundays two services, often 2 hours long. People were faithful, even young people committed. Then society was sharply delineated between Protestant and Roman Catholic, between Socialist and Free Enterprisers. Our allegiance to Christianity was there for all to see because of a stratified society.
That was then. Today matters are different. God has gone private and become a scarce commodity, no longer visible in society, except in a distorted way in the USA where Trump has achieved God status.
Why the change?
I think it has something to do with us: we white Westerners, found a way to dominate the natural world: thanks to fossil fuel we have unleashed unlimited luxuries, infinite travel to so-called exotic destination with all the conveniences common at home. We no longer needed God. If all the churches everywhere were to disappear overnight, society at large would not notice. God is no longer up there: we are gods thanks to our miraculous inventions, our skidoos and jet skis, our flying machines and Benzes and Bentleys, our cool-and heat devices: we have mastered nature.
So we thought.
While my fingers are busy on the keyboard, my thoughts go to LAURA, that sudden horrendous hurricane. I see this monster as God’s creational counter attack on Capitalism, the great disruptor of nature. I have come to believe that in an era of ecclesiastical irrelevance and Biblical ignorance, God is asserting himself through his creation: Creation is his Primary and Direct Word, while the Scriptures are his Secondary and Indirect Word. Both are needed to gain an understanding of God. Not seeing creation as of divine origin (Le Milieu Divin) illustrates the entire ecclesiastical emptiness.
This creation aspect is something new again: in Old Testament times – read Psalm 8 or 19 – that’s where God made him/herself manifest. Now, with the natural world constantly under attack, the creation angle is becoming prominent. That’s why Romans 1: 20 is in the Bible:
“For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities – his eternal power and divine nature – have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.”
Read that text again; it’s a serious indictment for you and me.
Still I believe that mGod understands our situation: I believe that a gracious God takes into account that we, for thousands of years have been waylaid by the church preaching the Heaven Hoax, seeing the Earth as disposable, giving birth to Capitalism. We now are cornered, but life goes on, which made Luther say, “Sin Bravely” (Pecca fortiter).
Fact is that, in the end, the Bible and the church as visible entities, will disappear. We are approaching the end, but creation will always be there, that’s why God is primarily known through his creation. That’s why, today, the only effective way to promote The Good News is shown in John 3: 16: “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” Today ‘Loving creation’ is the pre-eminent calling of the church! The word “world” is a translation of the Greek word “Cosmos”, which involves the entire creation, all that lives and moves and has a being. Our love for God is best expressed in love for creation in word and dee d. Where the church, by and large, solely proclaims the Bible as God’s Holy Word, the Bible itself sees it differently: it sees Creation as the best expression of God.
The lesson for today is different.
There is the ‘lesson’ Covid-19 teaches us. There is the lesson LAURA teaches us. There is the lesson the church has to teach: in a world estranged from the usual God concept, based on the Scriptures, so open to all sorts of misinterpretations and false premises, there is this lesson: the CREATION Word is unambiguous: love it unconditionally: all our actions, from the rising in the morning, to our retiring at night, ought to be dominated by ‘love for God’s creation’. When we do this, we also love the creator, just as loving the St. Matthew Passion, implies loving its composer, J.S. Bach. How can we say we love our neighbor, when our actions conspire to undermineth and wellbeing and that of our fellow creatures?
How to worship today?
Worship – loving Creation – is a 24/7 affair. The Virus has exposed the utter frailty of the ecclesiastical structure: we now are on our own. God is letting us loose in a fractured world rushing to disintegration. Just as God is hiding his face to see how we will cope (Deuteronomy 32: 20) so we too have become faceless. Masks are a symbol of how insignificant we have become: we are no longer in control. We have lost it. Now the raw elements of ‘nature’ dominate our lives. It reminds me of Psalm 29:
Ascribe to the LORD glory and strength.
Ascribe to the LORD the glory due His name;
worship the LORD in the splendor of His holiness.
The voice of the LORD is over the waters;
the God of glory thunders;
the LORD is heard over many waters.
The voice of the LORD is powerful.
The voice of the LORD
strikes with flames of fire.
and strips the forests bare.
This Psalm tells us how to worship: in the splendor of his holy creation. That’s exactly what we have not done: we have not worshiped him in his holy creation, have failed to see the sanctity of the world. So now, instead of ‘worship the Lord in the splendor of his holy creation’, we hear his voice in Hurricane LAURA, stripping the forests bare, we see the voice of the Lord in the flames of fire in California and Siberia, because of our failure to heed his voice, as is plain from Romans 1: 20, “we stand condemned not listening to God’s Word in creation.”
Conclusion.
I now believe that, by and large, the institutional church with its trappings and hierarchies has become irrelevant, yet Community, totally ecumenical, is more important than ever. We must meet and have ‘communion’, and so preach the Lord till he comes; we must meet to pray and read the Bible. But no sermon. Sermons are a holdover from Medieval Times, when people could not read. Sermons belong to the past, and ministers and priests prevent us from becoming who we are: we can’t delegate our salvation. The church only has a future when it morphs into the attributes of the invisible church: “God so loved the world”, the truly divine world we will inherit.