Sacred Cynicism

There is a lot I remember about growing up in church. When I was young our church was one of those old, classic limestone churches, with those high ceilings and no air-conditioning. In the backs of the pews were little shelfs for the hymnals, and behind the hymnals were those hand-fans from the funeral home. Long sermons were always tough to sit through when you were 10, but long sermons in July with nothing but a funeral home fan were excruciating. Happily in 1976, when I was 12, my church built a new sanctuary with air conditioning, cushioned pews, and all the latest amenities. Some sermons were still too long, but at least I could sit through them in comfort.

There were other parts of church that I found a little strange, and disconcerting when I was little. There was a man, named Gene who would get excited in church from time to time. You could always tell when it was coming, his face would get red, and then he would let out a little shout, jump down from the choir loft, and run around the sanctuary. There were other people who would shout, wave a hanky, or physically demonstrate their excitement in other ways. Some people seemed to be quite pleased when Gene ran a lap around the sanctuary, I always found it a little strange. Once, I asked my grandma why she didn’t do any of those things, and her answer has never left me. “It’s not about how loud you shout, it’s about how straight you walk,” she responded to me those many years ago.

Two weeks ago these same demonstrations once again marked a service, during a church conference in Louisville. I am quite sure that I would have been just as uncomfortable there as I was those many years ago as a child in my own church. I never want to hinder someone else in there worship, and if that response is genuine I have no problem with that display. However, I am hearing some language coming from this conference that troubles me greatly. At best, it represents a level of immaturity that is troubling, while at worst demonstrates a complete lack of understanding. People at the conference are celebrating their conclusion that “God visited in a powerful way.” While I do not want to deny God’s presence in that service, I do want to strenuously object to the idea that God’s arrival is uniquely marked by the displays present in that service. We have made that mistake before, and we should not make it again. God’s powerful presence is uniquely displayed when a single mom struggles to get her kids to church each week. God’s presence is uniquely demonstrated when a marriage on the rocks heals. God’s presence is there when a life marked by troubles, turns around with the phrase “I believe…” Even if that phrase is uttered in a lonely room, kneeling by a chair.

I guess what troubles me so much is that I once again am hearing voices proclaiming that the presence of God is best demonstrated by the highness of our jumping, and the loudness of our shouting, instead of the straightness of our walking. It makes me wonder whether we are again growing enthralled at the doings in the temple, while somewhere in a lonely stable another baby is crying. My mind wanders to Elijah, who after enduring some furious displays of another sort, heard from God in a still, small voice. One might even think of a smelly, dirty prison cell where Paul and Silas heard from God in another manner. One might even think of Revelation 8, where God’s presence was announced with “silence in heaven for about a half an hour.”

To be honest, my mind does go back to another conference in 1988, PALCON, that opened with a service much like the one from Louisville, two weeks ago. In the weeks that followed that conference, much time was wasted trying to re-create the events, the emotion from that opening service. I wonder why we are so beholden to the big display, when most of life is lived in the mundane and the small. Will God’s presence be in the bedroom of the small child when a bedtime story is read? Or will we rush through it, trying to plan for the next big display? I think I know the answer, but I hope I am wrong. It seems we have been this way before, and have received our answer before. “And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.”