Institutional structures of the Church-- such as the denominations (ELCA, UCC, UMC, PC(USA), etc.) and mid-councils (presbyteries, synods, classis, conferences, etc.) are not the Church.
The People are always the Church. These institutional structures are much more like the temporary 'houses' of the people of the Church--a home designed for a specific time, place, and set of social conditions.
When a house no longer meets the needs of the People it is intended to house, it makes sense to modify the housing, or to change it altogether-- just like we renovate our homes, or move into larger homes, or into smaller homes, at various points in our lives. Sometimes we can even take a very old, historic home, and fix it up to make it useful for a new generation to live and grow--and at other times, that's not as feasible an option due to the age, the construction materials, the accessibility issues, or the labor and cost of making it usable again vs. the benefit likely to be gained.
Our modern Mainline denominations (UCC, UMC, PC(USA), ELCA, etc.) are not the People of the Church; but rather they are the temporary houses of the people of the Church, constructed mostly to accommodate the social situation of the postwar Baby Boom. Sometimes households were joined together during this era, and new houses were created or renovated. At other times in our history, households split over issues such as slavery, Civil Rights, women's ordination, and LGBTQIA+ equality, and the people moved into separate living quarters.
We must never forget that the walls that house the People, are not the People. To change the boundaries of a presbytery or synod or conference; to merge; even to separate denominational structures when needed for reasons of justice and equality--these are not failures. These are the lives of the People, and we adjust the housing to meet the needs of the People.
Perhaps in this next decade or so, we will finally realize that the arguments between White European Reformers 500 or so years ago, aren't really great reasons for us to remain in our separate little walls and houses anymore. Maybe we will even realize we have far more in common and far more to be gained from joining together, than we have ever really realized.
Similarly, we may realize that it's ok to separate from and put some distance between people who would discriminate against and harm people based on race, sex, orientation, gender identity, immigrant status, disability, or other human demographic factors--and those who would seek to welcome, include, and protect them--even if we seemed to share a lot in common in the past.
And as the Baby Boom enters its sunset years and our demographic patterns change and our populations migrate from farm to city, or even from one region of a state to the next, we, too, can look for ways of rearranging our housing to meet our new realities.
Housing exists for the People, not the other way around.
Sometimes we people forget that we do not exist to preserve an unsuitable house at all costs. Houses should not consume so much of our time and energy and resources that we have little left with which to live the rest of our lives, to love and learn and grow, and to be active in the world around us.
--
Frankly, it is not so different with the walls of our own congregations, our 'Houses of Worship.' Like our own family houses, sometimes we need to expand or move into a larger home as our family grows; and sometimes we need to move into smaller, more manageable housing as our family changes, moves, or the older generations die. Sometimes a big old house is beyond our energy and resources to maintain, and it's time to let a younger, growing family put it to use. At other times, a house can become too old and unsafe for use; or perhaps the land it is on could be better used to serve the needs of the community in a different way.
Even in times when a house, or a House of Worship, needs to be demolished, we can still offer them first to nonprofits who can recycle and repurpose building materials, creating new life and new beginnings where something we once loved is ending.
Similarly, when our institutional structures of the Church change, or are even dissolved, we can offer what we have in assets, or in other gifts, practices, events, and traditions, to create new life and new beginnings for new gatherings of people and new formulations of community. We can even find ways to use what we have had to do justice--such as when the assets and property we have attained came at the expense of Indigenous, Black, or other displaced and unjustly treated groups of people.
The housing is for the People, not the People for the housing.
The housing is not the Church.
The Church is the people.
No comments:
Post a Comment