Ok Boomer, and Other Challenges for Changing Church - Luke 12:49-56

For a moment, I invite you to think about your religious or spiritual identity. How would you describe yourself, and what words come to mind? Maybe it’s the word Christian, or Episcopalian, or member of Christ Church. Or maybe something like former Church of Christ or some other previous spiritual home. You might say spiritual but not religious, or the less popular version, religious but not spiritual. Or maybe you identify as a seeker, one who is curious where this path might take you. However you identify, here are some phrases that probably do not come to mind: active member, active non-member, pledger of record, communicant in good standing. That last one means you take communion at least three times a year. These phrases are church database categories. Not exactly compelling stuff in terms of our spiritual path. But they are the kinds of things that get tallied up each year for the parochial report. Every church and diocese reports their statistics annually to the wider church in an effort to measure things like membership and finances.

Now I’m all for faithful and careful church administration, as it supports the church that nourishes us. That being said, a very interesting report was given at General Convention this summer. It came from a task force on the state of the church. Their mandate was to study church decline, as well as challenges presented by the pandemic. The group consisted of mostly young adults, millennials and Gen Z to be exact, and most from the west coast. In other words, not your usual church task force. The priest who presented their results was the oldest member, a Gen Xer. He said their findings could be summed up as follows: we are essentially off the map now. Church is changing quickly, and our old ways of planning and measuring are no longer sufficient. This is a time for innovation and adaptive change, not technical fixes. One of the older Arkansas deputies affectionately called this the “Ok, Boomer Report.” For example, why not revise the parochial report as a tool for planning rather than a means for taking the same old measurements? We can change institutional behavior and vitality by changing what we measure, they said. If you’re not particularly moved by being a communicant in good standing, you’re not alone. We are here to be formed as disciples of Jesus, in a uniquely Episcopal way. We are here so that our faith will be life changing and make a difference in the world. Those who are looking at the church from the outside are seeking the same thing.

That’s the kind of passion I hear in Jesus’ uncomfortable words today. This is not the “peace be with you Jesus” or the “consider the lilies Jesus.” “Do you think I have come to bring peace to the earth? No, I tell you, but rather division!” he says. He has come to bring fire to the earth, presumably as a kind of violent cleansing. Jesus, who previously told such a beautiful story about the reconciliation of a father and a prodigal son, now sets parents against children and children against parents. What I never noticed before is the generation detail in this text. The older and younger generations will be set against one another. Jesus after all is a kind of millennial prophet, shaking up the old ways of doing things and calling for radical adaptive change in the Church. That’s always hard to hear for those of us who lead and care for the institution.

I think it’s important to remember that Christian identity back then was new and risky. Faithful, religious families were deeply divided over it. But times have changed, right? Christianity is now mainstream, at least around here. I don’t have to choose between my family and my faith. Several generations of Alexanders are communicants in good standing. So it would be easy to assume that this passage doesn’t really apply to us anymore. But whenever we think that about Scripture, there is just about always something we need to hear in it.

Let’s return to Jesus’ words of division, fire, and hypocrisy. His harshest rhetoric is usually aimed at religious folks. Time and again he teaches that faith is not about  going through the motions. Following Jesus is supposed to change everything in our lives. And isn’t that what we actually desire? Don’t we want our faith to matter, to shape the way we move in this world and to guide all that we do and all that we love and value? Something in us senses that Jesus is pointing us where we need to look, to the meaning and guidance we are so hungry for. And when we look to him, we see a life shaped thoroughly and perfectly by love and forgiveness.

There is a clear message in this gospel for the church. After Jesus brings up the weather, he says, “You hypocrites! You know how to interpret the appearance of earth and sky, but why do you not know how to interpret the present time?” Ok, do we know how to interpret the present time? Not just politics or climate change or the economy, but the present time for the church? (Sermon Brainwave) Task forces on the state of the church are important, and looking at statistics is helpful. But none of that can quite capture the urgency in Jesus’ words.

What if his call to interpretation has to do with the mission of the church in the midst of so much change? Our mission must be grounded in Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection. And in his absolute embodiment of mercy, forgiveness, truth telling and reaching out to the lost and the least. Our mission is to do those same things in his name. That might sound like lofty rhetoric, but Jesus is also clear that our identity in him should make an actual difference in our lives. The mission of the church will be carried out in our homes and offices, in schools, parks, recovery programs, grocery stores, and community programs. In other words, in all of the spaces we go into and spend some time. The call to interpretation from Jesus is a call to ask how and where the church is needed, and to be the church in those spaces. There are too many people who need mercy, community, healing, acceptance, and love.

When the task force on the state of the church concluded its report at convention, deputies jumped to their feet and gave their work a standing ovation. It felt like a gospel moment. We heard an urgent call to get on with being a changing church in a changing world. It felt as if Jesus himself was speaking to us, saying, “This is not the time for hand wringing over statistics and parochial reports. It’s time to be the church in the world.”