Be Holy? Be Perfect? Who Me?

Be Holy? Be Perfect? Who Me?

Leviticus 19:1-2,9-18; Matthew 32 5:38-48

Some years ago there was a little country church with a pastor who had a dog and the folks of the church loved the dog as much as their pastor. The dog was a seeing eye dog, or a service dog, who helped the pastor who was totally blind. The dog would lead the pastor on visitation calls. The dog would be with the pastor in his office; would be present  for various church events; he even took part in worship. In fact, during worship, the pastor would process in with his dog and stop at the communion table. The dog would take his place next to the table. During the service the pastor knew his way around the chancel well enough to do it on his own, and when it was time for the service to end, the dog would join him for the procession out. It was all done very orderly and dignified, and the dog was the best behaved creature in the building.

As it happened, the pastor became seriously ill while still serving this church. During his illness different members of the church took responsibility for taking care of his dog, and in honor of their beloved pastor, they would bring the dog to church and the dog would take his place there at the communion table. The pastor did not get better and after a few weeks he died. The entire church was grieved. And they kept bringing the dog to church. How could they not do so? Bringing the dog helped them to feel close to the pastor that loved them and that they loved. And the person who was selected to walk with the dog felt a great sense of honor. Over time, a new pastor was called. He thought it was a bit strange to have a church dog in worship, but he accepted that it was important, and let it be. More time past. The dog died. One of the kind members who helped take care of the church dog got a new church dog and began bringing her to church. She seemed to understand and learned quickly about worship decorum and she took her place at the communion table, processing in at the beginning of worship, processing out at the end. And everyone was happy. And the world seemed to have a sense of order and sameness that was comforting in times of change. This went on for many years and through another pastor. And then it happened.

One day, a visitor came to church who was puzzled by the sight of a dog in church being given such an honored place in worship. She began asking questions, and now people were not so clear in their memory. “I don’t know. We’ve always done it this way. Ask the pastor, she will know.” So the visitor asked the pastor, “Why do you lead the dog in with you during worship and have the dog sit by the communion table? Is there some theological or liturgical reason for it?” and the pastor replied, “The church was doing this long before I came. It seemed important to them, and it didn’t seem to be hurting anything, so I just went along.”

I would say most every church has a few traditions that they hang on to that make about as much sense as having a dog sitting by the communion table during worship. You try something one year and it is new and innovative, it creates an exciting buzz and everyone joins in. So you do it again the second year, and it is still meaningful, although it’s not so new. Then you feel compelled to do it a third year, and once you‘ve done it three years in a row, well you can figure that it’s going to be repeated every year until the kingdom comes. It is now Tradition! But here lies the problem. This tradition was once new and innovative and exciting. But over time, it’s just doing the same old thing. And with all the energy that goes into keeping the tradition going there is no energy left for being creative and innovative so that another new, exciting thing can be done.

Sometimes I think the church becomes it’s own worst distraction. Several years ago, when I was a full time pastor, I picked up a couple books about time management. I was the worst for letting various distractions interfere with getting my priorities done. The distraction might be fielding phone calls that keep me tied up with mindless chatter for an hour in the morning. Or going through mail and stacks of papers that kept getting bigger, and I would remember something that had come in, and would take several minutes searching through the stack, that I had searched other times for other things. Or, some times it was easier for me to get focused on doing administrative tasks, preparing for meetings or organizing committees rather than getting in the car and making my pastoral rounds of the nursing homes and shut-ins. One of the worst time wasters has gotten even more distracting, what I would simply call “screen-time.” TV Screens, computer screens, and now even the smart phone screen. How much time gets waisted as we focus on some screen in front of us, as if that screen would actually make our lives better? In each case we could easily argue that we are doing something important, and in each case we are being distracted from what is really important. And the church has become distracted by itself.

Think about it. The church has become a distraction. When many of us were growing up, we grew up with the idea that the church was the place to be on Sunday morning. The church provided time for worship, of course, but there was also teaching and fellowship, and various opportunities for doing good things in the community. People who were regularly involved in their churches were seen as more religious, even more holy than others. And the goal we had for evangelism was simply to get people to come to church.

Our scripture passages give us a different view of being holy. The reading in Leviticus begins with the affirmation that “you shall be holy for I the Lord your God am holy.” Then we get a glimpse of what this holiness is all about. God calls us to an economics of justice and compassion: When you harvest your crops don’t pick the land clean, leave a little behind so that those who are poor might have something to glean. What would such economics of compassion look like in today’s world? I would love to gather some folks together to talk about the events in Wisconsin where some are trying to kill public unions, and talk about our own politics of watching out for ourselves and the heck with others. How does God’s call to an economics of justice and compassion translate into our everyday activities and our political involvement?

Leviticus also includes several verses that focus on relationships. Much of it sounds pretty familiar: don’t steal, don’t cheat, don’t tell lies. But it goes on to say, don’t make fun of those who are deaf or blind. Don’t be ugly to people who are different from you. And don’t go around saying ugly things about other people, even if you think they deserve it. Instead, talk to your neighbor and help them to see where they are doing wrong, and if you don’t, then you also carry the guilt of your neighbor. And this passage closes with the words quoted by Jesus, “love your neighbor as yourself.” These are practical, every day activities, not just once a week gather for worship.

So what does Jesus say? He begins with some pretty hard words about not resisting someone who seeks to do us harm. Don’t return violence for violence. Don’t use power to make your point. In fact, seek to be peaceful with the bully as well as the beggar, giving of yourself with both. Jesus goes on to tell us that God does not treat people differently because they are good and righteous as opposed to being scoundrels and enemies. I suspect that God does not put such labels on people, we do. God does not treat them differently, we do. God sees all people as God’s children who are equally loved. And if we love only those who love us back we are no better then the scoundrels we would condemn. And Jesus closes this discussion by calling us to be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect.

Being holy, being perfect has nothing to do with being in church. It has nothing to do with sitting in worship every Sunday. It has everything to do with how we live each day, and how we relate to people around us, especially those who are different, or who we don’t particularly like.

So, what good is the church?

The job of the church is to equip and send. We are to equip people and send them into the world to be the face of Jesus for others. Of course to send people we first need to gather people. Unfortunately we often stop with the gathering. I would argue that gathering is the least important function of the church. If we are a place for people to gather to feel good about ourselves so that we can get through another week we are no better than any other social club. The job of the church is for us to challenge each other to grow in our understanding of what it means to follow Jesus, to be the face of Christ in the community. The job of the church is to send people out of the church back into the community to live out the mandates of compassionate economics, of just and right relationships with neighbors, empowered to not use power as an answer to conflicts.

But we are so active and busy in the church. We have to keep yesterday’s program going. We need to make sure last years’ activity is repeated and made better. We must make sure that the church dog is led into worship every week. And our busy-ness is are distraction. Our busy-ness in the church is distracting us from the discipleship to which we are called.

Here is my challenge: Let’s examine what we are doing in the church. Looking at each program, activity, budget item. Does this program or activity help us, as a church, to be the face of Christ in the community? Does this program or activity help you, as an individual, to be sent out into the community to be the face of Christ? If it does, let’s do it, and find ways to do it better. If it does not, then maybe it is a distraction we don’t need.


Jess E. McCrosky
St. Andrews Presbyterian Church
February 20, 2011