Among the leadership we talk a lot here at All Saints about “growing the church.” (Not that numbers necessarily reflect growth) We are aware about how mainstream denominations have declined systematically in numbers of members over the past several decades. The Episcopal Church is no exception, so our task is made all the more daunting given cultural realities. The reasons for such decline in “institutional religion” are complex. Many books have been sold of late attempting to analyze why the younger generations (X, Y, Millennials) don’t go to church. At our recent vestry retreat we all agreed that we have something special at All Saints. The vestry was asked point-blank to say why they came to All Saints… why they stay. The answers were consistent with what many of us know and have known about All Saints for years: We are graciously welcoming; we are inclusive and affirming of all manner of folk; our liturgy is beautiful and our preaching is meaningful; we deeply value intelligent and critical inquiry into matters of faith; seeking and discovery are more important to us than dogma; we genuinely care for our neighbors; and we sincerely intend as best we are able to live out our faith in the world. People around Mobile know this about us…. So why aren’t we overflowing with numbers dog-gone-it?!
I think our culture has made religion so very easy… a commodity, a consumer product, as it were… the churches that the church growth experts laud are the ones who provide “services.”…. gyms, exercise facilities, childcare, ATM’s… yes! I swear… and theologically, success, emotional well-being, and perpetual happiness… and liturgically, entertainment… It’s a one way street… people want to consume religion… to show up and have it done to them… a spiritual inoculation for the week.
But the life of faith is a two-way street… both gift and choice… A vibrant faith community is certainly a gift, and All Saints is one such gift… but it also requires choice… the choice of honesty and engagement and responsibility…The life of faith is in no wise passive. By being a part of this community I would hope one feels challenged to question their faith… to ask the profound questions of life, to be compelled and inspired by their life here to live the gospel, loving one’s neighbor…calling out injustice… welcoming the stranger among us… One’s life of faith is not merely a citation in one’s obituary… but a way of life that informs our minds, souls, and bodies; a way of life that conditions us for the rigors of love…. and that requires much of us…. that requires all of us… and there are many who simply don’t wish to make that choice…. The life of faith takes arduous work, courage, persistence, risk, and imagination. I hope and I believe that being in the community of All Saints engenders such a life… Anything less would sell the vision of the Gospel truth short.
I am speaking of resurrection life. It is surely a gift, but it is just as surely a choice. Our saying yes to life in the face of death is our vocation, a practice; and saying yes to resurrection requires arduous work and courage and persistence and risk and imagination. At the end of the gospel of Mark the young man dressed in baptismal white seated in the empty tomb, announcing the resurrection of Jesus, directing the women to Galilee, is pointing us into this way of life… into ministry, into creative selflessness. Indeed as the women emerge from the tomb to follow Jesus, they become the next generation of Christ’s raised body given for the world. By God’s grace we are the raised body of Christ in our own generation… If we so choose.
