Christianity, especially it’s more liturgical manifestations, provides a tremendous constant throughout history in every culture that it touches. That constant element is the older generation bemoaning the lack of interest in Church in the younger generation. If you dig into the writings, diaries, sermons or other musing of Anglican clergy you find hundreds of years’ worth of concern that the Church will not survive the upcoming wave of apathy that seems to be rapidly approaching. This seems to be part of a much larger theme of older generations complaining the behavior of the younger, than it is about the future of the Church. Religion was all but dead in Eastern Europe, but it has experienced a resurgence since the time I was in elementary school. While Christianity still continues to decline in the West, we can see that Christianity has proven hard to snuff out, and that the Holy Spirit has a habit of reinventing her Church.

If the Church were always vibrant, it would never change, because there would be no need. I once served in a very old and fancy church that commissioned a history of their parish to be written and turned into a coffee table book. Reading through it was a fascinating dive into example after example of the impermanent nature of Church stereotypes. At the turn of the century this parish was known for its activism in the Progressive Movement, which meant being hardcore into the Temperance Movement and proponents of the Communist presidential Candidate Eugene Debs. This was a far-cry to the extremely Republican congregation I knew who had a soft spot for gin and tonics. Around the same time the Associate Priest convinced the Rector to try something controversial and advertise the Church services in the newly formed newspaper. Apparently, this decision was ultimately applauded, but there was significant concern this would appear unproper and beneath the Church.

Things that now feel so comforting or boring or standard or traditional, were once new, exciting, improper, controversial, cutting edge, and clearly a sign the Church was going down the drain with no hope of recovery. It is as if the Church were a giant centrifuge, and the world keep throwing new things into it. Very little stays in, but what stays tends to stick around. Ode to Joy was once one of many new religious songs, but remains in the centrifuge of the Church because it is that good. Some other songs, which were popular when I was young seem to have already spun out, and may be forgotten in the coming generation. Emergent Churches in coffee shops were meant to the saving grace of the Episcopal Church, but they all seemed to have turned into something else or fizzled out. When we are determined to try new things, more ideas will certainly fail than succeed in the long run. This can seem disheartening, but it is essential to the life of the Church, and it is only scary if our goal was to avoid failure, when all we were ever called to do is be faithful.

We are trying a lot of new things at St. Luke’s. None of them will work perfectly all of the time, but I imagine many will improve over time. If I am lucky and work hard, I could eventually be part of something that will be as permanent as the St. Luke’s BBQ or Pumpkin Patch. I will likely not be part of something that will shape global Christianity in the same way that Ode to Joy has. The goal isn’t to hold onto was is precious so tightly that it can’t be damaged, nor is it to change for the sake of change. When I try to be faithful in my ministry, I must realize the Church was never and will never be mine. We are merely caretakers who have come after many caretakers who have come before us. Their faithfulness might have been supporting prohibition and Eugene Debs, while our faithfulness could be feeling the Church can be a salve for a deeply divided people, and if we do a good enough job, we can hand over the reins to the next generation who will be faithful in ways that we cannot even begin to imagine, and if we are still around we will probably follow the constant of bemoaning the new generation.

Come join me. Throw some stuff into the centrifuge and join me in dodging the things that get thrown back into our face, and when that happens, I hope we can laugh at our foolishness and faithfulness as we run the race.

Blessings,

Nick