The Dream of Church

"The important question to ask is not, ‘What do you believe?’ but ‘What difference does it make that you believe?’ Does the world come nearer to the dream of God because of what you believe?” (Verna Dozier, The Dream of God, 79).

In the early 1970s, the first bishop of Nevada, Wesley Frensdorff, had a vision of ministry and mission similar to that of Verna Dozier. It was thus that Bishop Frensdorff, through something called “Total Ministry,” began a movement in Episcopal ministry that empowered laity and clergy alike to work in concert as equal and essential partners in the building of the kingdom. “Total Ministry” understood Baptism as the invitation to all Christian people to use their gifts for mission and ministry within and for the Church. Bishop Frensdorff wrote of "Total Ministry,"

“There is one ministry in Christ, and all baptized people – lay and ordained – participate in it according to the gifts given them.”

At its core, the ideas formulated in the concept of “Total Ministry” can push the limits of how we minister as a church. They challenge us to a new dream (using the language of Verna Dozier) in how we carry out our baptismal promise in the world. 

The Baptismal Promise is that covenant we make together at every baptism – they are the promises that call us to...

• “continue in the apostles' teaching and fellowship, in the breaking of the bread, and in the prayers…”

• “persevere in resisting evil” and “repent and return to the Lord…”

• “proclaim by word and example the Good News of God in Christ…”

• “seek and serve Christ in all persons, loving your neighbor as yourself…”

• “strive for justice and peace among all people, and respect the dignity of every human being…”

  
  

A CHURCH THAT RADIATES GOD'S LOVE

Just a few years before his tragic death in 1988, Bishop Frensdorff wrote a poem called The Dream. The poem begins:

Let us dream of a church... in which all members know surely and simply God’s great love, and each is certain that in the divine heart we are all known by name. In which Jesus is very Word, our window into the Father’s heart; the sign of God’s hope and his design for all humankind. In which the Spirit is wind and fire, gracing the church with a kaleidoscope of gifts and constant renewal.

When I was young, every few years, our family would trek north for Christmas to visit relatives in Cleveland. As a young boy from Florida, I was fascinated by the metal contraptions that hung on the walls of my Grandparents' house. When you touched them, they were warm. I, of course, had no experience with a radiator, but my Grandpa Alex brought me to the basement, showing me the boiler and how the steam traveled through the pipes all over the house to those “metal contraptions,” radiating its heat all the way.

“Can a rock that has been in the sunlight all day not fail to give off warmth and heat at night? Can we, when we have lived in the warmth of God’s love, not fail to give off the same warmth ourselves?” (attributed to Martin Luther)

We can’t, of course, radiate God’s love until we’ve opened our hearts and let it in. Live in the sunlight of God’s love! Bask in the sunlight of God’s compassion! Absorb God’s light and let it shine in the darkest corners within. Once we allow God’s love in, we can begin to give it off.

May we dream of a church that radiates God’s love.

A CHURCH THAT FLOWERS WITH ABANDON

Frensdorff dreamed of a church

“unafraid of change, able to recognize God’s hand in the revolutions, affirming the beauty of diversity, abhorring the imprisonment of uniformity…”

We are probably no less afraid of change in our church than Frensdorff’s church was thirty years ago. Perhaps we are more afraid. In a world that is changing so fast, a changeless church is a refuge in uncertainty. We cling in comfort, but maybe we cling too tightly to what was that new growth is restricted.

When my friend’s aunt moved into a new home, she wanted to cut back the vines that grew up the front of the house. The vines on the house grew with abandon, flowering prolifically. She wanted to shape the vines, directing them and controlling their growth. She bought some electric shearers, later describing the purchase as “a big mistake.” She cut that vine…and cut…and cut….and cut until not much remained. She was ready to begin forming the vine but that vine hasn’t flowered since. 

It’s not dead. It is sort of alive with a brownish stalk that only sends out a few green bloomless tentacles each year. Later, she learned that this particular vine would only produce flowers from new growth added the previous year. The green shoots coming out now just don’t have enough nutrients to bring forth flowers.

May we dream of a church vital and alive, growing and flowering with abandon.

A CHURCH THAT IS SALTY

Frensdorff dreamed of a church

“…so salty and yeasty that it really would be missed if no longer around…”

We should be “serving” and “seeking” and “striving” and “respecting” so that our church would be missed if we were not here. I envision a bold church, existing beyond our eight walls, fearlessly speaking out against unjust structures in society, against violence of any kind, and against exclusion for any reason. I envision a church that doesn’t always choose the safest way but chooses instead to “prepare the way of the Lord…” (Matthew 3:3). I envision a church that remains relevant and responsive to our rapidly changing social context.

The church cannot be satisfied with being fed and feeding pablum but instead must hear the Word, take risks, speak out, and act against those things that are not of God.

May we dream of a salty church.

A CHURCH THAT IS ABOUT JESUS

Frensdorff dreamed of a church

“in which each congregation is in mission and each Christian, gifted for ministry; a crew on a freighter, not passengers on a luxury liner.”

Presiding Bishop Michael Curry spoke in terms of the Jesus Movement, 

"Now is our time to go. To go into the world to share the good news of God and Jesus Christ. To go into the world and help to be agents and instruments of God’s reconciliation. To go into the world, let the world know that there is a God who loves us, a God who will not let us go, and that that love can set us all free."

The Church should be about the Jesus Movement, carrying on the mission of Jesus with each member, regardless of ordination status, a part of this mission – a member of the crew, working for the same end.

May we dream of a church that goes into the world to share the good news of Jesus Christ and to be agents of reconciliation. 

A CHURCH ABOUT THE ABSURDITY OF LOVE

Frensdorff dreamed of a church that recognizes

“the absurdities in ourselves and in one another, including the absurdity that is LOVE, serious about the call and the mission but not, very much, about ourselves.”

May we be a playful church that dances, sings, laughs, and cries in the company of our “Clown Redeemer.” And maybe we can be a church that doesn’t take ourselves too seriously. We are a church, after all, that falls short. But we are also a church blessed with hearts that forgive, feet that move, and hands that work. And, we are a church blessed with a God who forgives, who redeems, and who loves us - no exceptions.

Today is the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord and, by association, the feast of all our baptisms. We celebrate the beginning of Jesus’ public ministry just as we celebrate baptism as the beginning of our ministry.

May we dream of a church that is serious about God’s love.

What kind of a church are we to be? Will it be the kind of church that we dream it to be? Will it be the kind of church Jesus dreams it to be? All of us have a part in shaping the answer.