..this blog was written several years ago—seems appropriate for today.
Yesterday was emotionally moving. I witnessed a sermon delivered with skill by a story teller living The Story of God in urban America—Seattle. He was invited as part of a 24 hour leadership retreat focused on 'Sacramental Presence'—being a living sign of Jesus within our faith and parish communities. Rev. Brian Wardlaw has lived sacrificially in the Ballard neighborhood (Seattle) with the purpose of looking for where Jesus is present by active listening, engaging and serving as a pastor alongside.
Several years ago Brian and two other pastors and their family's moved to Ballard as missionaries, really. They became the stewards of a Nazarene Church's property, old and looking old and whose congregation was no longer able to function gracefully within the city. Brian and his wife are pioneers, entrepreneurs who with the help of many upgraded the building, retaining it's historic feel and spent two years looking around Ballard for non-profits doing good work in the neighborhood and finding them in the arts, social justice, faith, neighborhood and family. Leveraging existing and life giving non-profits serving Ballard in these areas, they gifted the space back to the city and committed themselves to being a 'faith presence' and settling into the long-term job of building parish roots, history, life.
This building buzzes with life today creating 'Jesus kind of narratives' within Ballard. Within the Jesus Story itself three communities of faith are emerging from this vision: An inter-denominational and strong church, Young Life Ministries and a small gathering of mostly un-churched friends and neighbors of Brian who gather for a meal, laughter, faith-discussion and the Eucharist. Over time, some of these friends who gather in his home and he in theirs will become his partners in mission as they are now friends in worship.
What this and thousands of 'like missions' across America and Canada are doing is the same thing the Benedictines or Franciscans or Jesuits did for the Catholic tradition: Reminding us of our real mission as parish communities.
The evangelical churches of North America/Canada are in a slow death march, like a live lobster in boiling water, anesthetized by its boiling traditions, unaware of the trend line that any social-scientist could detect. It will be okay. Denominations who fail to 'die to themselves' and so 'give themselves away' or fail to find a larger 'Jesus narrative' than highly personalized salvation will die while others will find new ways of renewal and inter-active engagement. The key is parish community.
At the heart of American consumerism is the idea of flying above it all—privatized pleasure discovered in the virtual world or in walled off communities, homo-genius and often white. We are rich enough to know only what we create for our own comfort. As North American Christians we do the same. We escape the city for the burbs and watch and live only those shows, movies, face book, political narratives which reinforce our own past; when and where our grand-parents actually knew the store-clerk or barber or farmer who produced the food. Community life felt homogeneous and relational. We shared in the same difficulties as they shaped us. Now its virtual and we can apparently afford to keep it that way and thus control our experience. Or can we?
We, who are inside the Jesus story, hallow (or perhaps shallow) our life by driving great distances to experience church as intimate-strangers with programs designed to meet the consumerist needs of our congregants. Emotionally charged, but requiring nothing in sacrifice. It feels plastic and somehow removed from the larger story of a culture that has turned away from faith as a non-answer. Our pastors either become CEO's driving the whole thing or gifted at presenting. The teaching or priestly care-giving function of the calling becomes secondary. All of it increasingly feels like institutional 'boiling water,' its heat making us passionate only about 'keeping faith' at the center of national or cultural life instead of watching, enjoying and engaging the myriad of interesting narratives all around us in this multi-cultural world of North America. We are holding on to the faith of our fathers at a time of new wine skins require new wine; when questions and doubt are the communal path to faith, not certainty. When action is faith. We are afraid instead of hopeful. Separate instead of engaged.
The worst part of our non-parish faith communities is that we miss Jesus who is ever fleshing himself in all kinds of people around us, many who may not as yet 'know him'. We have traded safe-distance for risky, demanding and fun-filled collaboration.
Brian's message and his story engaged our leadership that is cross-economic, cross-cultural and cross-generational. We are a mix of faith traditions, but we are also a living reflection of our own neighborhoods. Our discussions were a mix of laughter, deep thought and angry confrontation. We, as a church, have learned that working through anger is just part of hanging together, given the mix of cultural and economic and philosophical differences that make us up. Some of us are evangelical and others wonder if 'eternal life' is even in the offing, reflecting in no small way, the modern/post-modern streams that run through us. But we have what very few churches have: the feel of parish life. We're not very good at it, but it is authentic and if God keeps bringing rich and poor together with western and tribal values we have no alternative. It's hard, but I for one, would die in any other homo-genius church. It's just boring. There are only so many times I can give my testimony, after-all. Do we even do that anymore?
I'm pleased with our own political leadership in the Naz church of Western Washington in making the Ballard investment. All it needs is prayer and time and one other thing; recognizing it's costly but Kingdom-like gifting. We Nazarenes may or may not realize a direct benefit. Ballard will. More importantly, we are hitching our wagon to what will ultimately save our institutional Presence; Parish exegisis and presence.
I will never forget hearing a Naz missionary from Swaziland speak when i was just a child. He said that his family worked for many years before one person caught the Jesus Story as their own, their tribes story. I don't know how many times that kept me going in West Seattle, when I felt no one understood that the investment I was making had little to do with the Naz church and a lot to do with West Seattle. But then, Harmon F. Schmelzenbach was a missionary.
That is what it will take today for we have a lot of 'high-flying church life' to live down. Keep it up, Brian. You are God's chosen and remarkably gifted and faithful!
Blessings!
For those who know WSCN's story, it was surreal that the public announcement from our developer that the final city permit was approved on our park development and townhouse project from which we will derive monies for the upgrade of our historic facilities was given on Sunday, during the service Brian preached. Did I say surreal? Perhaps a God-thing says it better. :)
See, for fun, an incredibly funny satire on pastoral life: https://youtu.be/1XsrJ3687aM
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