Dr. John Tamilio III, Pastor

 © 2021, Dr. Tamilio

Well, this is strange.  I haven’t had to write a sermon in a long time.  As fun and as relaxing as my sabbatical was, it is good to be back in the saddle, as they say.  First, I want to thank everyone who helped hold down the fort while I was away.  There are many to name, but, in particular, I want to offer my gratitude to Rev. Dee, Gloria Gilson, Patty Doyle, Joe Kendall, Jan Haughey, and Joyce Kessler-Drews who jumped back into her old bookkeeper seat to cover for Nimisha who is still recovering from her terrible accident.  All of you made this time possible — and that is not lost on me.

So, how did I spend my summer vacation?  The last thing I said to you before I left was that I was going to go fishing, which I did.  I love fishing!  I always think of Jesus calling Peter and his brother Andrew to be his disciples.  Matthew writes, “They were casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen.  ‘Come, follow me,’ Jesus said, ‘and I will send you out to fish for people’” (Matt. 4:18-19).

I did a lot of fishing the last three months — along with some traveling, reading, praying, and planning.  Now that I’m back from fishing, it’s time to fish, but this time it we’re fishing for people.  I’ll get back to that in a second.

I spent a great deal of time thinking about why mainline churches are in a state of decline, and have been for a long time.  There are lots of reasons for this.  It would be irresponsible to say it is due to one or two factors.  However, there is one issue that I think rises to the top of the list.  I think we have entered the post-Christian age of absolute relativism.  Moral standards are rebuked.  In fact, moral relativism is the response Pontius Pilate gives to Jesus.  Standing before Pilate to be judged, Jesus says that his kingdom is not of this world.  Pilate rhetorically responds, “’So, you are a king?’”  Jesus answered, “’You say that I am a king.  In fact, the reason I was born and came into the world is to testify to the truth.  Everyone on the side of truth listens to me’” (John 18:37).  What does Pilate say?  “’What is truth?’”  If this took place today, Pilate would probably have said, “Truth, schmooth — what’s truth for you isn’t truth for me!”

So, going to a place (i.e., a church) and hearing sermons about how we should live our lives by serving God in the service of others isn’t what most people want to do.  It isn’t what they want to hear.  They want to live their lives by their own rules, thank you very much.  The ideas that Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau developed about the independent, nonconformist, self-made individual have gone amok.  It has resulted in the utter rejection of anything that looks or sounds authoritative.

I often say that all religions have two things in common: they explain who and what God is to their adherents, and they teach them how they should live their lives — all those do’s and don’ts that we associate with the Commandments.  In fact, many parents bring their young children to church so that they will have a strong, moral foundation.  One blog writer puts it this way: “I don’t need religion because I don’t like being told what to do unless there is good justification for it.”[1]  Aside from the fact that such a claim begs the question, what is “a good justification,” many others accept this sentiment.

It is true that being an atheist does not mean you are an unethical person, just as being a person of faith does not mean you are a moral person.  I have met many ethical atheists and recently discovered that John Wayne Gacy once thought about becoming a priest.  What you believe does not always determine how you behave.

Anyway, back to where we began: the church in a state of decline.  People aren’t coming to church anymore to learn how they should live their lives when it comes to ethics.  Those that do come do so for many reasons, but the one that I think that we should capitalize on as we continue with our evangelism efforts is the need for spiritual depth.

John Bartunek is the author of the book Spiritual but Not Religious: The Search for Meaning in a Material World.  The title borrows the popular mantra you hear many people espousing nowadays: “I believe in God,” they say, “but I am not a religious person.”  That may sound like a contradiction, but it isn’t.  Saying “I am not a religious person” is simply another way of saying, “I don’t go to church.”  But helping people deepen their spirituality is the business we are in.  Imagine someone saying, “I believe in being healthy, but I never go to the doctor.”  It makes me want to ask, “Where do you get your spirituality from?”

The thing is, I know the answer to that question.  They get their spirituality by reading or taking walks in nature.  All of those are important for spiritual growth, but spiritual formation should take place in the community.  None of us are called to be solitary Christians.  We are called to be Christians together — in covenant with God and with one another.

Our church needs to be a place with a clear focus and a clear mission.  Don’t get me wrong: I am not saying that we do not have a clear focus or mission.  There are many things we do here — and most of it we do quite well.  But what goal or idea do all of our actions point to?  What is the purpose of everything we do?  My vote is that everything we do and say should enable people to strengthen their personal relationship with Jesus.  We do this by nurturing spiritual growth.

People are hungry for this.  They just think that they cannot get it in a traditional church, for some reason.  I think they can.  I think we can offer it to them in a way that is not dogmatic or threatening in any way.  It simply requires us to be authentic — to embody what we preach and pray about.  To show compassion.  To be a warm, welcoming presence.  To let every person who walks through our doors know, as Brendan Manning wrote, that God loves you just as you are, not as you should be — because none of us are as we should be.

How do we do this?  One way is to just be ourselves.  We already do this to some extent.  Another way is to try to see our church through the eyes of someone who has never been here before.  How would you want be to approached you if you went to a place (church or otherwise) that you’ve never been to before?  The UCC used to refer to this as extravagant welcome: much like the Prodigal Son being fully embraced by his father regardless of what he did in the past.  I will say more about this in the weeks to come.  Suffice it to say, the survival of the church is going to depend upon us rolling out the red carpet and making people feel as if their souls have been touched by the message we share.

Yes, in the weeks to come we will talk more about this.  For now, see each moment that you are here (and not here) as an opportunity embrace someone new.  To genuinely say, “Welcome, we’ve been waiting for you!”  Let’s go fishing.  Amen.

[1] Taken from new.exchristian.net.