Musings

Outward and Visible Signs

Rev. Peter Faass | 6/11/2010 at 10:47 AM

One of the blessings of my life is that the previous owners of my home loved to garden and they left me with small but prolific beds and a lovely yard. This has been a glorious spring for plants and trees and I have reveled in the glory of color, texture, form and fragrance in my little corner of the creation.

This past Monday was a beautiful late spring day and provided a perfect opportunity to spend a few hours outside planting, weeding, dead-heading and watering. I have one of those Episcopal Diocese of Ohio's lawn signs on my property, the one that proclaims, "Love God, Love Your Neighbor, Change the World!" As I puttered in the yard, an older woman who I believe lives down the street a block or so from me, walked by on the sidewalk. I looked up at her and said "Hello." I had seen her before but never had occasion to speak with her. She stopped, looked at me and then at the lawn sign. Finally after a brief silence she said, "I love your sign. Every time I walk by and read it, it makes me feel good." "Thank you," I replied. "It makes me feel good too." We engaged in a few small pleasantries and then she picked up her bags and continued her walk.

I know that those lawn signs were met with mixed emotions from many people when they were distributed from the Diocese two months ago. A lot of folks who I tried to get to place them on their home lawns looked at me as if I had asked them to walk barefooted across hot burning coals! I often get this same reaction when I ask people to staff our booth at the Shaker Farmer's Market, march in the Memorial Day parade, put door knob advertisements out in their neighborhood, attend Bible study at Panera's, wear Christ Church tee shirts in public, or participate in an outdoor liturgy where others can see them. Too many people are just horrified at the prospect of making any personal connection to their faith community in any public way or venue, no matter how low an impact it may have on their lives.

Since interviewing at Christ Church four years ago I have heard much about this parish needing to get out into the greater community "beyond our red doors." This statement is a metaphor at our parish; it means we need to be concerned about more than just ourselves and stop engaging in naval gazing inside these walls. We need to get outside of the building and get public with our faith. Our Gospel imperative is to proclaim the Gospel by word and deed by being a Christian community that lives our faith with integrity. Or put plainly, waling the talk, doing what we say. That means publicly serving the people whom we live among. But the problem is a lot of us talk profusely about getting beyond those doors, but too few of us actually dare do it.

Faith, my friends is personal, but it is not private! Jesus did not sit in some synagogue or the Temple in Jerusalem and wait for folks to come to him. Jesus went out into the world and met people where they are, in real life. His is the model we are to emulate if we are going to be faithful followers of Him. The model of waiting for people to come to us – engaging in naval gazing - means we are idolizing the concept of Jesus, but we sure are not following Him.

Now I know some of us think it is just plain bad taste - a violation of proper etiquette - to place a lawn sign in our yard that speaks about our belief in God. We think it equally as bad to do the other things people are urged to try to do around this parish, so they can tentatively break out beyond the red doors of this church, as well as those equally formidable metaphorical red doors of their lives.

The real question before us in this debate about a private versus a personal faith is this: How are we going to love our neighbors if they can't see us; if we do not meet them where they are? How are we ever going to have a simple encounter that allows us to share our faith in a serendipitous conversation with the elderly lady carrying her groceries down our street, without the outward and visible sign of our faith?

These are real questions confronting main-line Christians today. The answers to them and others related to them will determine the future of our expression of the Christian faith in general and specifically the viability of this congregation. I urge you to reflect prayerfully on these questions, as well as moving toward making more public statements of your faith by your presence which is the most powerful outward and visible sign we have to offer. Our future as Episcopalians, as well as the future of this peculiar and lovely Episcopal parish we love, depends on it.

Peter +

 

Back to Musings

 

Home   News & Events   Ministries   Newcomers   About Us    Peter +

3445 Warrensville Center Road, Shaker Heights, Ohio 44122   Phone: 216-991-3432   © 2010-2012 Christ Church