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| Rev. Peter Allen |
By the Reverend Peter W. Allen
Connecticut Conference United Church of Christ Fall Annual Meeting
Central High School, Bridgeport, Connecticut
October 18, 2008
Exodus 17:1-7
Lay delegates, ordained colleagues, conference staff, and guests: Greetings to you in Christ’s name. My name is Pete Allen and I have the honor to be the Senior Pastor of the Monroe Congregational Church, United Church of Christ -- a wonderful, loving and faithful group of people who inspire me every day.
Most of us go to deserted places from time to time for quiet moments and retreats but have you ever been in a real desert? When I was a little boy, my big sister introduced me to the desert. When she would (very occasionally!) allow me into her room, she would show me her collection of cacti and explain where they came from. I’ve only been to the desert a few times but each time, I’ve been struck by the dreamlike quality of my surroundings. Deserts are dangerous but their combination of emptiness, austere beauty, and mystery make them perfect places to be spiritually cleansed and to prepare for some important new stage in life.
In the passage from Exodus that Jocelyn read for us, we find ourselves in the desert with Moses and his people. For the Israelites in the book of Exodus, the desert is a magical place where all sorts of frightening and amazing things happen, including fantastic and life-changing encounters with the Divine. Their desert is an other-worldly world and a time out of time.
The text says they are out there, traveling, learning, starving, thirsting, arguing, killing each other, getting to know God and forming their identity as a community of God’s people for forty years (which of course means “a long time” in Bible lingo). As glad as they are to have escaped slavery in Egypt, in our reading for today, they are scared, angry, frustrated, burned out and thirsty. And Moses is afraid they’re going to stone him.
Clergy colleagues, does this sound familiar? I assume that most of you – ordained and lay people – are leaders and core members of your churches. Does this sound like something you’ve been experiencing lately, this kind of fear and frustration and conflict? Are you and your church hitting that stage of your journey when you are wondering where your next glass of cool water is going to come from?
Let me be blunt. In terms of numbers, many of our congregations -- and our denomination as a whole -- are in decline and have been for a number of years. We can’t deny it. And believe me, I don’t like saying that out loud (especially since you’ve given me this wonderful honor of allowing me to speak to you today) but it’s important for us to tell the truth to one another if we are to confront our challenges faithfully. Although there are notable exceptions (vital, growing churches – and we did hear last night that at least here in the Connecticut Conference, OCWM giving has stopped declining). But the long-term trend is that membership, worship attendance, and financial giving in real dollars are headed downward.
Numbers do not necessarily indicate faithfulness, so we do not define ourselves by our numbers – at least I hope we don’t. Because we are smaller than we used to be, the United Church of Christ and most of the other mainline Protestant denominations have an opportunity to speak truth to the culture and to the centers of power in a more pointed way. We couldn’t really do that when we were in bed with them in previous centuries. And as I look out at you, I see faithful people who practice courageous, life-changing, inspiring ministries in Christ’s name every day. So, in many important ways, we are right where God is calling us to be. As a prophetic voice, you might even say we are in the rise.
But our steady – I would even say alarming – numerical shrinkage says to me that we are in danger of becoming not just smaller but irrelevant. And that I cannot accept because UCC congregations here in Connecticut and elsewhere bring gifts to the table that no other churches offer as consistently as we do.
A thoughtful faith – a faith that does not run away from the conversation between science and spirituality, a faith that engages the intellect as well as the heart. Our emphasis on the extraordinary grace of Jesus Christ. Our commitment to radical inclusion and social justice. Our discipline of compassionate service to our neighbors. Our invitation to personal transformation in the Spirit of Jesus Christ, not as a private matter but in the context of a covenant community of equals. Attentiveness to the still speaking Spirit, the living God.
These commitments and traditions are the reason that I have dedicated my life to our United Church of Christ. You, too, I think. Our unique and sacred message can’t be allowed to slip quietly away as if it didn’t matter. It does matter. Our way of being Christian matters. Our way of being the church is too good and right and beautiful for us to let it rust.
What can we do about it? There are things we can’t control: The general decline of institutions in Western society. Demographic changes in our urban centers. We can’t change those things. But with God’s help, we can give people in our communities that cool drink of water they need to refresh their aching souls. And we can inspire them to give and to serve.
As we seek to nurture generosity (which is our theme for this meeting), I believe the place to start is to admit that we are in trouble and thank God that the good news trumps the bad. And the good news is that God has gushing streams in the desert for us and for our churches -- cool, clean water to inspire renewal.
Moses’ people were thirsty. And the people in our pews and their kids, they are thirsty, too. And those who are not in our pews but might yet be, they are thirsty, too – for life, not for prosperity. I know, some voices are telling them that they are thirsty for prosperity but that is a lie. They are thirsty for life lived fully and joyfully in the midst of loss and the face of the unknown. God showed Moses the way to the water and God will show us the way, too
True, for there to be refreshment and renewal, there must be death. As scary as that sounds, it’s the only way. Jesus didn’t just experience discomfort on the cross; he died there. And if we are to rise and be thirst quenchers, if we are to rise with Christ and be conduits of God’s living water, there are things about ourselves and our churches that we will have to allow to die.
First among them is that we have got to stop assuming that people will come to us (I know, you’ve heard that before but it bears repeating). In decades past, when folks moved into a community, they would automatically visit the nice white church in the center of town. Those days are gone forever. Gone! It’s time to get over ourselves.
The national church has offered us superb leadership with the Still Speaking campaign and other creative initiatives. Our conference ministers have encouraged us again and again to emphasize hospitality. Now, it’s time for us as local churches to get on board in whatever way makes sense for our particular settings (using whatever language will reach the folks in our communities) and start inviting and welcoming and including.
When I was first starting out in ministry up in New Hampshire, I had eight kids in my youth group. The group had an intimate atmosphere and we loved each other very much. We had two wonderful years together. Then, as our third year was about to begin, it was time for their younger brothers and sisters to join the group and they said, No way. If they come, they’ll ruin it! Thankfully, one of them could do math and convinced the others that the group they loved would be dead in exactly two years if they didn’t let their siblings attend. In the end, they decided to let their desire for the old days die so that the group could live -- and it blossomed.
And if we don’t let our glory days die, our churches will die. We cannot nurture generosity if there is no one to nurture. Open the doors and where’s all the people?
And in order to get them there, I believe we need a commitment, yes, to hospitality but also to excellence. That’s easy to say but it’s hard to focus if you’re feeling discouraged. And frankly, I don’t always practice what I preach. My church has been worshipping on the green in Monroe for two hundred and forty six years. And since I’ve been there for fourteen of those years, it’s easy for me to slip into comfortable complacency and think, Aw, it doesn’t matter what I do or don’t do; this old church will be here for another couple centuries and beyond.
And then I slap myself. Who says our church will still be around -- even for a few more decades? Why do I assume that we somehow deserve to be there in the center of town? How arrogant is that? Who says that things will just keep on cooking along if I just show up and go through the motions? Showing up is indeed half the battle but there is another half. Inspiring and nurturing generosity requires excellence in everything we do.
A friend of mine recently visited a church. On his way out, he saw an announcement about a new mission program. Great! But the announcement was scribbled on a torn bulletin and thumb-tacked to the church door. Our mission deserves the best we can give it. People don’t give to shoddy things.
In contrast, there is a young woman in our conference, a sixteen year-old named Emma Lane, who is a member of our Mansfield Center Church in the Windham Association. A few weeks ago, Emma held a dinner to raise money to build a new house for a family who lives in a shack in the dump in Oaxaca, Mexico. Her publicity was comprehensive and she filled her small church social hall beyond its capacity. She secured dozens of volunteers, including local musicians. She provided a tasty, multi-course meal. She gave us a carefully prepared speech, illustrated with heart-rending photographs. And she raised more than enough money to build not one but two houses!
People want to give (People want to give!) and leaders like Emma are getting them to do it, not just through excellence but through a message of hope. When people walk into our churches, they seek a positive, life-affirming word, the good news. And while we have to name the brokenness of the world and our complicity in it, no one wants to have a finger pointed or wagged in their direction.
In Davida’s recent email message to pastors regarding the Wall Street financial crisis, she emphasized this point. Let’s avoid blaming and concentrate instead on caring for each other, giving each other our best, giving each other a word of hope. And when our folks feel the power of God’s abundant love in their hearts, they will listen with an open mind to our calls for justice and they will respond to our invitations to give.
So, Connecticut Conference! Let’s wake up and let’s get real! Let’s open our church doors wide and let’s not be too proud to ask all the people to join us! Let’s recommit to excellence in our serving and in our leading! The people are thirsty. And the God of the desert, the God Jesus Christ -- our God -- has water for them to drink!
Amen.
