Jesus focused on relationships, not on religion. He certainly had little interest in forming a new religion with an institutional structure. Jesus’ understanding of the centrality of relationship was relatively simple. I am in a relationship with God and it looks like this. I mirror my relationship with God in my relationship with you. Likewise, you are to mirror my relationship with you in your relationships with one another. In other words, Jesus projected his experience of being in a relationship with God into the relationships he built with his followers. By extension, he taught them how to make their connection to him into relationships with one another.
In the 1st letter of John, written by John of Patmos sometime in the first half of the 2nd century CE, Jesus is recorded as saying:
No one has seen God, but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is perfected in us.
His teaching points to a way of life that seems simple enough – well at least clear enough – though not necessarily, always easy to follow.
Elsewhere, Jesus paints word pictures of what relationship with God looks like that draw their power from everyday and the familiar aspects of life. In last week’s gospel portion from John 10, Jesus uses the metaphor of the good shepherd whose love for the flock has a very intimate and self-sacrificing intensity. In today’s gospel portion from John 15 – Jesus draws another arresting picture of divine-human relationship – that of a vine and its branches – an image that speaks of the organic- interconnected life of relationship.
It seems to me that the future of the church in the 21st century will depend on a return to Christian communities defined as vision movements putting core spiritual values into concrete practice. Across university campuses this past week, we are witnessing the genZ Zoomer generation – the first generation since the early boomers propelled and convulsed by a vision movement. In his poem Anthem, Leonard Cohen captured the spirit of this protest moment:
I can’t run no more with that godless crowd while the killers in high places say their prayers out loud, but they’ve summoned, they’ve summoned up a thundercloud and they’re going to hear from me.
For many of us – the current student protest vision is seriously misinformed on the central rallying point of Palestine. They don’t really know the facts but they have an excess of righteous passion which unfortunately tarnishes their passion for justice for Palestine and Palestinians with a regrettable antisemitism. Palestine is the rallying cause for an expression of pent-up rage about many things experienced by this generation. But this is not to take anything away from the vision propelling a need to protest. It’s important to recognize the energy behind the protest without necessarily endorsing every element of the vision.
Vision movements – and this is a good description of the followers of Jesus – arise from an acceptance that existing structures are no longer fit for purpose. The institutional structure of the Church is a case in point. As we face into the headwinds of decline – we have an opportunity to allow the nature of our identity and sense of purpose to shift with -and not fight against – the cycle of decline. In other words, to take advantage of institutional decline to return to the centrality of the original vision – to mirror relationship to the risen Christ in our relationships with one another within the nurturance of a loving community.
This is a poignant theme on a baptism Sunday when we welcome a new member into relationship with Christ, by coming into relationship with us – the Christian people of God in this place. But why exactly are we welcoming the newly baptized? Are we welcoming them as the latest recruit into a failing institution? Or are we welcoming them into a set of relationships that will shape and support them within a community making a difference in the world? As the old African saying goes:
If you want to go fast – go alone; if you want to go far – go together.
Jesus was not interested in founding a new religion or creating a religious institution. Nevertheless, that’s what happened. In the natural cycle of things, original vision movements concretize into institutional structures. The history of the Church is one of a cycle of vision-led expansion followed by institutionalization leading to decline. A cycle repeated over and over again. We are fortunate to be living in a decline phase of the cycle. Now I guess, you didn’t expect to hear me say that!
St Martin’s is currently experiencing growth and revitalization. Amidst overall institutional decline – at the local level many parish communities are vital communities. Is it tempting to interpret our vitality as the poly-filler in an otherwise cracking facade of the institutional church? But to do so is to miss the essential source of our vitality. Cohen again:
Ring those bells, the bells that still can ring, forget your perfect offering, there is a crack in everything, that’s how the light gets in – that’s how the light get’s in, that’s how the light gets in.
Our Jesus-shaped relationships with one another are like the light that seeps through the cracks in an institutional church where belief was thought more important than belonging. Our vitality at St Martin’s is in no small measure due to the priority we place on belonging over believing. I don’t mean to suggest believing is not important – it’s just that believing emerges from belonging rather than the other way round.
Like most organizations, the church is good at explaining what it is and how it works. The question usually not addressed is why it exists.
Compare and contrast the following mission statements:
We have a beautiful church, and we are an active community. We marry progressive theology to traditional worship. We have fun and do good in the world – want to join us?
and..
Everything we do is to give an account of the faith within us – to become better equipped for God’s purpose. We are a community on a journey together in the belief that if you want to go fast journey alone but if you want to go far journey together. Your presence strengthens us. Will you join us?
Jesus said:
I am the vine; my father is the vinegrower. He removes every branch in me that bears no fruit. Every branch that bears fruit he prunes and makes it bear more fruit. … I am the vine; you are the branches … because apart from me you can do nothing.
Or as Leonard Cohen puts it:
there’s a crack in everything – that’s how the light gets in – that’s how the light gets in.
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