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Who Needs a Church?
Rev. David K.
Groth
Not
long ago, if you didn’t hold traditional religious beliefs and belong to a
church, you felt obliged to explain yourself. Today, the reverse is true. Today, the pressure is to explain why you
do belong to a church.
It’s no longer fashionable to
belong to a church. Some personal
ads in the newspapers list membership in an organized religion as an
undesirable characteristic. It’s not
as bad as smoking, but in some American cities, it’s close! I’ve even had siblings of a new member
come into my office concerned that their brother was taking this “religious
stuff” too seriously. “He even prays
before dinner . . . in a restaurant!”
In
his book, “The Culture of Disbelief,” Yale Law Professor Stephen Carter
argues that in America, religion has become a hobby, a casual past
time, like collecting toy trains.
It’s fine, as long as you don’t take it too seriously, and, you
really ought to keep it to yourself. We can observe this new trend in the
decline of mainline denominations.
Many Americans are simply dropping out of church. They often claim they are still “very
spiritual.” They “just don’t need a
church.”
Trouble is, in the Bible the
Christian faith does not exist apart from community. In fact, from beginning to end in the
Bible, God is bringing people together as a community, a people. In the Bible, being with the community of
God’s people is being a part of the “flock” where we are safe. You can’t be a member of the flock in
isolation. In the Bible, a sheep
that is separated from the flock is a “lost sheep.” Deserting the flock and the shepherd, we
would be alone in the wilderness, where almost certainly we would perish,
drugged and poisoned by the noxious weeds of the world, or prey to that
lion who “prowls around looking for someone to devour” (1 Pet. 5:8). In the Bible, the isolated sheep is the one
in deep trouble, the one for whom the Good Shepherd will leave the ninety-nine
in order to search and rescue. When
he finds the lost sheep, he carries it on his shoulders back to the flock (Luke
15:3-7).
If
we are in the flock today, we must confess it is because Jesus has so often
come after us and carried us back. For
those within the flock, that is our only comfort . . . not in our respectability or decency or
goodness, but in his grace. Our comfort
is not in having our name on a church’s roster; it is the unfailing mercy
of our Shepherd, so patient and so good.
If we are in the flock, it also means
we are guided by the Shepherd and share his concern for the lost
sheep. We may not ignore the lost
sheep. We may not, like the
prodigal’s elder brother, resent the special effort for the lost son (Luke
15:11ff). And, in each family, we
will not have to look far to find the lost sheep. In searching for the lost sheep, we share
in the work of the Good Shepherd who gave His life for the sheep.
For
all their faults and failures, the local congregation is still where God wants
us to be, and where he promises to work through Word and Sacrament.
Who needs a church? I do.
You do. Most amazing of all,
God does.
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