Be a member--why not--but, more importantly, be a follower

Scripture: 1 Kings 8:1-13

            Confirmation is a seminal event in the life of the church. It’s the day that brings to fruition the promises that were made in your baptism, and it is your opportunity to publicly respond to that baptismal promise that your parents and godparents made for you. But first I want to be clear about a couple things, the first of which I say every year and will continue to say every year until I’m satisfied we are a church that doesn’t act like this: confirmation is not graduation. We parade you up here in gowns and applaud for you so it feels like graduation, but it is my profound hope that you are not done with the church even as you are just becoming members. If so, we have failed you.

Confirmation also does not mean that you agree with every detail of what our church confesses. If we honestly felt that way none of you would be getting confirmed. You are all little heretics who think for yourselves, but it’s not a sin to have independent thoughts. To be a member of the church is not to become an automaton who goes through the motions of worship once a week. While we ask that you respect the traditions that have been handed down for tens, or hundreds, or, in some cases, thousands of years, you are free also to respectfully disagree with those traditions. People have disagreed about things as long as there has been a church, and they can do this and faithfully remain a part of the church because we do not worship traditions or theological viewpoints. We worship Jesus. All of our traditions and confessions and doctrines are cornerstones for temple-building, but the temple is not the thing that we worship.

            With that said, temple-building is not a bad thing. When Solomon built the first temple in our reading today from 1 Kings he was trying to create a place where a person could know that God was especially present. On a smaller scale, this is what every church does. Churches are holy places because they are places where God is especially sought. And “sought” is the important word. Pastors might spend years in study, monks might spend a lifetime in a monastery, theologians might spend their lives on one aspect of God’s nature. All of these people have wisdom to contribute, but none of them have God completely figured, which is why people like Mark Driscoll and Rob Bell can be Christian pastors who dedicate their lives to the study and service while coming to pretty much the opposite understanding of what that means. Millions of Christians have read the Bible and studied their own churches, traditions, and confessions and come to different conclusions about every issue under the sun.

            So, I think it would be awfully naïve of us to say that you need to subscribe to every iota of the Lutheran confessions in order to be a member of our church. You don’t. However, you do need to have listened and learned what it is that the church believes with the respect due a tradition that has flowed like a river from generations and generations before you and will continue on long after you’re gone. The doctrine and tradition of the church is like Solomon building that temple; it helps make God known to us, whether in the sacraments—in the bread and wine, the water and the word—or in the liturgy, or in decisions of the council, or in any of the countless other things that we do. This is a place of meeting God; it’s not the only place, nor necessarily the most faithful place, but it is the place where, for better or worse, this community has chosen to meet. And that means that it matters to us.

            But the other thing you should know is this: this church in the year 2013 looks only a little like the church in 1913 and less still like the church in 1813, 1513, or 113. As we celebrate today not just Confirmation but Reformation Sunday it behooves us to remember the revolutionary call of the Reformation: “Ecclesia semper reformanda est,” or “The church is always reforming.” Take a look at the Confirmation photos downstairs from the early 1900’s—I know you probably have. It looks like a group shot taken from a local prison. What changed between then and today? Well… many things. Every year the photo looks a little different—there are more people and then less, they look more stoic and then they are smiling; the pastor looks like he could snap at any moment and then he looks cheerful or, in my case, he has a big dumb grin. That’s not bad or good; it just is.

            Fifty years ago in our church there were no female pastors. One hundred years ago in this part of the world as many Lutheran churches spoke Norwegian or Swedish as English. Two hundred years ago Christians were arguing that the Bible justified slavery. Four hundred years ago the church shunned Galileo’s belief that earth revolved around the sun. Five hundred years ago Latin was still the only language spoken in worship and there was only one big-C Catholic Church in the western world. The church is always reforming, and we can say this faithfully because traditions help us point to God, but they are not God themselves. The one thing that hasn’t changed is the only thing that matters: Jesus Christ, who the book of Hebrews says is the same “yesterday, today and forever.”

            So, here’s the thing about confirmation: You’re not there yet; not even close. You really haven’t gotten much past that first day of Sunday School, singing “Jesus Loves Me” and interrupting during the Children’s Sermon to talk about your new shoes. You’re not wizened scholars; you might not be able to tell me even one thing that makes the Lutheran faith unique; and possibly you don’t agree with, or even understand, everything you’re saying in the Apostles’ Creed. So be it. Welcome to the church. We’re all somewhere on that spectrum of belief, and doubt, and fascination with a mystery much bigger than you and me.

Being a member of a church is not hard work. Every once in awhile somebody calls on you to do something or to give some money for some cause. That’s easy stuff. Being a member of a church is about as much of a commitment as being a member of Sam’s Club, but, on the other hand, being a follower of Jesus is incredibly hard. The two are not synonymous—no matter what the church wants to tell you. In our church, membership is defined as communing and giving offering at least once a year. Being a follower of Jesus requires your life. It requires a lifetime of prayer and constant struggling with what God is calling you to do or to be. It requires, as Jesus says in the Gospels, denying yourself, taking up your cross and following him (cf. Mt 16:24).

Temple-building is nice. Solomon did a good thing with this whole temple thing, just as our churches are good things both for the community and the people who attend. But here’s the most important thing I want you to know: If the choice is between being a member of the church and being a follower of Jesus, please, please, please choose Jesus. I realize this might sound like some spiritual but not religious mumbo-jumbo, but I don’t mean that. Instead, I mean that the most important thing is not that you fit into the doctrine of the church or that you bring your children back to be baptized out of a sense of duty; the most important thing is that you are mystified and passionate about Jesus.

And the second most important thing is a follow-up on the first. If you discover that the church is not helping you to be a follower of Jesus, do not go and find a better church! I realize that’s the American ethos: something doesn’t feed you and so you move on; you disagree with something, so you find something you agree with because there are other choices—that’s consumerism. But the moment you treat a church like something to consume rather than a community to share you will have turned the focus from God to yourself, and then it is hard to get away from treating religion as something that serves you rather than the means by which you can serve God. Instead of leaving the place that is not feeding you, you should first examine whether this is about a genuine issue of faithfulness or if it is only about you. Then, if it is an issue of faithfulness, rather than leaving, seek to reform it. That’s what the Reformation did right. They didn’t seek to leave the church; they sought to set it right.

The decline of the church in America has many facets, but one of them is our inability to disagree and stay together. Please disagree with me. You can disagree with what I preach—I am not infallible, and sometimes I’m certain the Spirit puts words on my lips that even I don’t much like. You can also disagree with the council on decisions they make. You can disagree with the way that we worship. But no matter what it is that you don’t like about the church, you do have an obligation to make your concerns known—not in selfish pride or in conversations behind closed doors but openly and with love for the people with whom you disagree. The healthiest church is one that disagrees on important matters but shares a far more important common faith in Jesus.

So, here are your three pieces of wisdom as new members of this church all tied up in a nice bow. First, in this place you are free to disagree as long as you allow others the same courtesy. Second, it’s far more important that you be a disciple of Jesus than a member of the church. And third, being a follower of Jesus involves much more commitment than membership, but it is also much more important. Being a follower of Jesus involves taking up your cross, which is a decidedly unsexy thing to do. It’s much sexier to feel entitled to membership and do lip service to Jesus. Don’t go down that road, as tempting as it can be. That’s the danger of Solomon’s temple. Once built, it becomes an idol—an attraction that takes away from God’s presence rather than adding to it. Membership in a church can do that to you. It can be your status symbol. Don’t let it. Instead, follow Jesus. I wish it were simple, but at least know that we’re all on this journey together. The important thing for you, at this early stage, is that you’re on the journey at all.