Sunday, February 6, 2011
St. Mark’s Episcopal Church
The Rev. George D. Smith
Isaiah 58: 1-12
1 Corinthians 2: 1-1
Matthew 5: 13-20
For a cool $2.6 million, you can buy thirty seconds of airtime during today’s Super Bowl. The actual football game, between the Pittsburgh Steelers and a team from Wisconsin, for many will be the sideshow next to the glitzy, zany and out-to-get-your attention commercials. Bud Light, Doritos and Chrysler all have a lot riding on these ads. GoDaddy, an Internet domain registrar, formerly known as Jomax Corporation, owes its success in large part to its advertising during the past several Super Bowls. Perhaps a commercial for Volkswagen will touch your heart by featuring a child in a Darth Vader costume who fails to command anything, except for a 2011 Passatt sedan.
One advertisement that you won’t see is one that was planned to air but pulled a few weeks ago over angry protests. A link to the commercial was e-mailed to me about three weeks ago with a request for my reaction to it. Here’s a brief description: It begins with an aerial view of a suburban church in summertime, generic enough to be Presybterian, Roman Catholic or non-denominational. The view shifts to the interior where a worship service is in progress. There are ten maybe twelve people scattered in the pews in a space with a capacity for several hundred. The next scene is a few days later with the pastor, a man wearing a black shirt and white collar, again generic enough to be any denomination. He is by himself in a pew in the church praying to God for inspiration on how to build up his flock. A stack of unpaid bills is piled high in his in-box. While praying, he hears a sound from above – a crack and fizz coming from a pop can being opened, ostensibly by God himself. The message comes through loud and clear as the pastor’s face grows a huge smile and his eyes light up. In the next scene, it is the following Sunday, and there is a long line of people, young, old, black, white, latino from the altar rail all the way out the door and down the block. Communion is being served to one enthusiastic person after another. A close-up shows that they are receiving Doritos and Pepsi. One woman asks where she can get spicy Doritos – the pastor nods to the Communion station to his left. The final scene is back in the office a few days later. The in box is filled with pledges and the out box with paid bills.
What is your reaction? Mine was mixed. On the one hand, the idea of Pepsi and Doritos as the body and blood of Christ is pretty blasphemous. But on the other, I thought that this ad would spark lots of conversations about church among a wide range of people – in particular those who are disconnected or haven’t been to church ever. What is Communion? Why aren’t people going to church? Why don’t I go to church? There isn’t much church advertising on television – probably because it’s too expensive. There has been some however – you may have seen the “Come home” campaign put on by the Roman Catholic Church, which has run several times – around Christmas and at the start of the school year.
As it turns out, there was plenty of reaction to a church offering Doritos and Pepsi. Before the heat became too widespread, the commercial was taken off the Internet and is no longer accessible.
Regardless of whether the ad should have been pulled or not, it did contain a very important insight. The fact is that many smaller churches are nearly empty on Sundays – and attendance in general at all churches is on the decline. This is true of nearly every denomination, whether Episcopal, Methodist, Roman Catholic or Baptist. Even mega churches like Willow Creek in Barrington have seen their attendance numbers top off and begin to decline. It’s a major trend that has no sign of changing direction. It is even accelerating. Lots of people have explanations for why this is happening. Back in the 1950s, 60s and 70s, it was the social custom to go to church. If you were a family in good standing in almost any community, you belonged to and attended Sunday morning worship services. Times have changed. First, sports for children on Sunday mornings became acceptable. With the growth of leagues, travel teams and opportunities for even very young children, Sunday morning became viewed as a prime time for practice and game time. When parents are asked to choose between sports and church, sports wins hands down. But sports can’t be blamed entirely. Technology and recession are also factors. Productivity in our country is way up, which means fewer workers are producing more goods and services. Businesses are wringing more work out of fewer people. Those people who have jobs are tired – exhausted by the weekend, and if they aren’t working on Sundays, they want to rest. Sunday morning is often the only time to sleep in. Those who are unemployed are exhausted too. Looking for a job is ironically very hard work. Combine that with a sense of failure, and there is fear of embarrassment in going to and being seen in church. Many people have the perception that church is for people who are put-together and have their lives in order. Another factor in today’s world is what I call the “entertainmentization” of everything. With big screen tvs, computers, cell phones and now computer tablets widespread, entertainment is at your finger tips round the clock. Twitter and Facebook offer fast, up-to-date information and satisfaction. Compared with these offerings, worship, particularly of the liturgical tradition, is increasingly strange and out-of-step with people’s activities. To be in a worship service for one hour, with prayers, readings, hymns, kneeling and standing is harder and harder for people to stick with. It’s boring for some and tedious for others. Some churches have responded by offering more video and up-beat contemporary music. This does draw people in but doesn’t keep them for long. The average length of membership is three years at places like Willow Creek.
St. Mark’s is not immune from these trends and realities. We are a liturgical church with many constraints, both financial and physical. The good news is that our membership is stable and growing. But you are as busy as the rest of the world, have Sunday morning sports, work obligations, sleep deficits and opportunities to do so many things. Sunday attendance is more varied and irregular.
In all of this, there is good news and opportunities. It would be naïve to think that our situation in 2011 is unique. I-Pads and XFinitity may belong solely to this generation, but busyness, distraction and exhaustion are nothing new. Prophet, apostle and Messiah all speak to these same conditions that existed many generations ago. Part of the problem was religion itself, religion that had lost its focus and impact, its ability to be authentic and meaningful. Today’s passage from Isaiah targets a religious establishment gone off track. Under question is the meaning of fasting. By all appearances, people were honoring God by kneeling, bowing heads and performing acts of outward penitence. But these symbolic actions of honoring God were not matched with actions toward others, neighbors, the poor and homeless. The voice of God calls people back to the real meaning of fasting – a fast that opens eyes to seeing the suffering and wrong around them; a fast that works against injustice; a fast that clothes the naked and gives shelter to the homeless. These are the practices of true religion – the practices of the God of Israel that lead to strength, abundance and the beautiful metaphor of life that is like a watered garden.
Like knowing the true meaning of fasting, the Apostle Paul challenges his brothers and sisters in Christ to understand the meaning of wisdom – to know the difference between the wisdom of the world, which isn’t really wisdom at all, and the wisdom of God, which seems foolish to the world. What is true wisdom? When Paul wrote his letter to the church in Corinth, it was experiencing a number of problems. Those who were wealthy were holding private, exclusive Eucharists. There were arguments about money and what was required to become a Christian. Then, like now, there are many who make Christianity complicated, diluting or replacing the wisdom of God with another so-called wisdom. The wisdom of God is nothing more than Christ crucified and Christ risen. It is the wisdom of gentleness and peace. It is the wisdom of generosity and helping others. It is the wisdom of non-violence. When this wisdom is lost, the meaning of Christ is lost and the church will veer off course.
It is Jesus himself who speaks of his followers as salt, a rare and precious commodity in the ancient Middle East. When salt is diluted with impurities it becomes worthless. It can’t be put on food or on wounds. Salt is not meant to be diluted but to be added to the world for flavor and for healing. Salt doesn’t change everything that it touches into more salt. Salt reawakens what it touches and doesn’t overpower. As those who follow Jesus learn what it means to be a disciple, they will hold before them the image of salt – its purity and simplicity and its focus on gentleness, peacemaking, humility and kindness.
Our scriptures call upon us, like generations past, to take stock of the meaning of our lives. We must examine with a critical eye the definitions we live by. Is our fast a real fast? Is our wisdom the wisdom of God? Is our salt diluted? Is the church a place of meaning to the world today? If the Doritos have lost their saltiness, the people will go away. The message of Christ is not complicated. It is corrupted when it becomes a one-time action or a series of empty rituals. Being in Christ is a way of life that is based on the reality of the kingdom of God in our midst.
Now is always the right time for the good news of the Gospel. It is time to rediscover its purity, simplicity and power.
Enjoy today’s Super Bowl and the many creative, humorous and eye-catching commercials. Think about what a 30-second spot for the Gospel might look like. When you know that simple message for yourself, try it out on a friend. Have some Pepsi and Doritos on hand just in case.
Amen.
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