Church in the Wrong Place?

Shiloh Church believes that it is "Living the Word by Serving the World." Part and parcel of that bold claim is the obligation of going out into the world, perhaps even into strange territory, in order to "Live the Word." The odd circumstance that I have noticed is that the world is sometimes uncomfortable with the Church that comes into it.

Several weeks back, volunteers from Shiloh Church served beer at the outside St. Patrick's Day celebrations at Boston's Bistro and Pub. Dozens of patrons commented on the curious presence of the Church. Why would a church be part of our St. Paddy's Day celebrations? Why would a church be serving beer? To be doing so seems contrary to what many have come to understand as the Christian ethic.

While it may have been appropriate to note that St. Patrick's Day was, at it roots, a religious recognition, we have to admit that our role was not related to the Saint. We were spared that conversation. Shiloh was attempting to accomplish two things: 1. We were trying to raise funds to support our chancel renovation project. and 2. We were attempting to be a church presence to an alternative community, one that we might otherwise never serve. Shiloh raised over $1,300, and the volunteers were certainly in an unexpected place.

During the event, and afterward, I have begun to feel an unanticipated discomfort with the church's presence at Boston's and elsewhere. The discomfort does not come from the religious community. It does not come from our membership or our volunteers. The strange feeling comes from the community. It comes from the public. It comes from precisely those whom we were there to serve and meet. While no one blatantly stated the possibility, I discerned the feeling that folks who were drinking at Boston's thought that the Church was in the wrong place.

It is a strange expectation, I think, that the Church will keep to itself. It is a surprising discovery to learn that the public can be made uncomfortable in the presence of the Church.

It is similar, I think, to what I witnessed in seminary. In the life of the seminary that I attended, more than 25 years ago now, there were those who thought that the more austere their personal life-style seemed, the more they seemed in solidarity to the poor and the needy. The problem was that most of these persons came from affluent backgrounds. Their education was being paid for by family or from ready finances. They seemed to be in solidarity with the poor, but the facts of their circumstances differed widely from what was being projected.

In the alternative communities to whom Shiloh wants to be present, there is a similar disconnect. Some believe that the Church should be a holy place, and that it should stay in its holy place. While many would refuse to step foot in the Church, they are uncomfortable with a church that comes to them. They are suspicious of a congregation that would serve them beer. They are leery of a religious group that would dare be part of their secular celebrations. Some certainly hold that the Church should stay "over there," in religious and spiritual territories. To be part of their secular world is the Church being in the wrong place.

At Shiloh Church, there is no such disconnect between form and intention. This is not like the seminary, where some pretend to be in solidarity with the poor by choosing to live austere life-styles, while being fully able to live affluently. Shiloh does not intend to make the community uncomfortable by being where some feel that the Church should not be. On the contrary, Shiloh seeks to demonstrate to the community that the place of the Church is in the community. The Church certainly belongs with those whom we might serve, even where and when presence in those environs seem to make some uncomfortable.

The challenge of the Church today is to narrow the gap between what is seen as sacred and what is thought to be secular. The process is not to demand of the secular that it become more sacred, as has been the aim of the Church in recent decades. The process must be to allow the sacred to participate in the secular, to allow the service rendered by the Church to impact how we live in the secular realm. That means that the Church must get out into the world, even if it makes the world uncomfortable. The educational process goes both ways.

You can help narrow the widening gap.

See You Sunday!