August 23 Proper 16
“Imagine a church where every member is passionately, wholeheartedly and recklessly calling the shots.” These are the opening words of a very popular YouTube video that advertises something called the Me Church. This spoof on church advertising has a narrator who makes outrageous promises to potential parishioners to get them to join the church. For example, a woman explains how she has a very busy work week and that by the time Sunday rolls around, she’s tired. How about a church service that starts when she wants? You got it, the announcer says. When you arrive, we begin. Then there is the couple that doesn’t give very much financially to the church, but they’d sure like to know who does. They are promised that they can find out how much everyone else gives in detail. Another woman asks if her car can get a buff and a wax while she’s in church. No problem – at the Me Church, they’ll also throw in an oil change. My favorite is the young sporty guy who asks for Super Bowl tickets. At first, the announcer says that’s asking too much, but when the guy says he’s serious, the announcer says, “Okay, join the church and we’ll get you there.” The final request comes from a little boy who would like a pony. No problem for the Me Church, the pony is already in his backyard. The tag line of the ad is “Me Church: Where It’s All About You.”
The reason this spoof is so funny, I think, is that it points to something true. We live in a consumer culture in which we have come to expect certain conveniences as we search for a church home. Some churches advertise shorter services or try to entice newcomers by putting a Starbucks in the parish hall. Churches have to market themselves well in order to compete. There is a push to offer more programs, more amenities, and more options to choose from. And all of it needs to be packaged as well as anything we would by at the local shopping mall.
Some of this is a good thing. In all honesty, a Starbucks in the parish hall sounds nice. And really, thinking about how to market ourselves as a faith community requires us to consider how best to reach people who don’t know about us and invite them in. This is a fundamental way of spreading the good news of Jesus. But there is a shadow side to this phenomenon as well. If we cater too much to a consumer model of church, we are essentially saying that the personal desires of religious shoppers come first, even before the genuine message we offer inside.
If you think about it, the consumer model of church was a problem way before churches had advertising budgets. It was present back in Jesus’ time, too. People were searching then just as we do now, often going from prophet to prophet, from one miracle worker to the next looking for the right fit. It is in this context that Jesus gave his message, attracting some people while others passed him by. Today we hear the end of a long sermon about the bread of life in the Gospel of John. Jesus said some very strange things about being the bread of life and how people need to eat of his body and blood to find eternal life. It’s no surprise that this message turned some people away, even ones who had come to think that maybe Jesus was the answer. Up until now, he had gathered great crowds, but little by little as they listened to his message, many turned away until only his closest disciples remained.
I would bet that at one time or another, many of us here have been in the position of one of those disciples who wandered away. People leave a church or a denomination for as many different reasons as they have for choosing one. Differences over politics, theology, or social issues often cause departures. And too many people have a bad or painful experience of church that causes them to leave. Sometimes leaving a church or questioning our faith is the healthiest thing we can do, and it can lead to spiritual growth in unforeseen ways.
But the Me Church phenomenon points to a different kind of wandering away, one that has been around since the beginning of Jesus’ ministry. From the very start, we hear of disciples grumbling and leaving Jesus when the teachings got too hard. People left when the message they heard didn’t fit into what they expected. They left when the message wasn’t on their terms. It turned out that Christianity was not just a product to shop for, but a way of life that is as demanding as it is rewarding.
Jesus asked the twelve disciples who remained with him, “Do you also wish to go away?” Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom can we go? You have the words of eternal life.” There is a good chance that Peter didn’t yet understand what he had found in Jesus, but he was able to catch a glimpse of something beyond himself, something he had not found anywhere else. In Jesus, Peter didn’t find a sound byte or a quick and easy guide to living. He didn’t hear a message that was on his own terms. Instead, he found an invitation and a promise. An invitation to begin a journey alongside this man, and a promise that along the way he would experience an abundant life. Given that promise, as Peter said, where else would he go?
Like Peter all those years ago, in Jesus we have that glimpse of something beyond ourselves, something we cannot find all on our own. The teachings of Jesus may be difficult at times, and we may not fully understand them or know how to follow them. But the invitation to follow Jesus comes with the promise that if we go on the journey, we will experience true and eternal life. That we will live our lives with purpose and meaning. That we will have the chance to live not only for ourselves but also for others, helping those who need us to find some of that abundant life, too.
Jesus said, “The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life.” He never talked about a Me Church, designer coffee, or Super Bowl tickets. He never promised a church on our own terms. And he never said the teachings or the path would be easy. But he did offer us an invitation to walk alongside him, and a promise that along the way we will experience an abundant life. Where else would we go? Amen.