On Tuesday I had lunch with a wonderful woman at one of my favorite restaurants, Lucia’s, in south Minneapolis. It had been a glorious morning. The air smelled of the spring that is emerging, a wonderful mix of moist air, mud and the scent of green. I waded over glorious, unfrozen puddles to get across the parking lot from my car, dodging little patches of blackened snow that are hanging on for dear life.

Siting down with my lunch companion we remarked about how blessed we were to be able to be able to sit down to such a lovely, healthy meal in an equally lovely environment. Then our conversation rambled to and fro about children, the world situation, the communities in which we live. Eventually the conversation meandered to the church. It was at that time my companion set down her salad fork and said: ” You know for my whole life I have been watching church. I finally have decided to be church.”

She continued on as if what she had said was the most normal thing in the world, as if what she had just said had not punched me right in the stomach. I stopped her and asked her to repeat what she had said. After she did I explained how important this statement was, how it is a remark that has the ability, I believe, to renew the life of our tottering faith communities.

Watching church. For those who have been a part of a faith community for many years, this may seem like an odd statement. But I know I have certainly observed its happening over and over again. I, myself, have been a watcher of church many times. I have allowed the performance and presentation of worship to be a spectator sport. I have watched choirs sing, preachers preach, scripture be read, heard prayers prayed, and yet I am not engaged in them. I have simply watched as if it is a grand show that someone else has created for my amusement. While this experience has happened to me, I am pleased to say it is not the norm. But I believe it is for many, many people. And so her statement got inside me and took up residence.

Church, like life, can find us unwilling to let the vulnerabilities that hold us fall away. We hold ourselves tight, guarded to an experience of a word, a sound or an action that might change or transform us. Fearful of what might happen if we allow our heart to be softened or our mind to be challenged, we watch. But we don’t really engage. It feels too risky. And yet something continues to draw us to a place, a community. I believe we show up out of a deep desire to engage in the very transformation we so often resist.

I imagine the early followers of Jesus did their fair share of observing. Observing what it meant to reach out to those who were hungry for a word of peace, a sign of hope, a piece of bread, a kind touch. Though no liturgical words were spoken, no choirs sang, they were quickly drawn into the action of being church. Church was not what happened for an hour on any given day, it was a way of life. No buildings confined their work or their ability to be present to one another and the Holy in their midst.

Again, like life, the church can be a place for watching, allowing the grand show to continue with us in the audience, applauding politely every now and then. Or life and church can be where our deep desires for connection, for meaning and for being known are brought and offered for the goodness of one another and the healing of the world. The choice is really ours. But we need to consider what we miss when we choose to be only watchers.

Have a blessed weekend……