Church Speak

I am a failed evangelist. For 62 years of my 83 years, I have been a convinced, dedicated, even enthusiastic Lutheran, but I can’t think of anyone who has joined the Lutheran Church because of my witness. Even my two sons aren’t active Lutherans, even though they were raised in an ELCA church. My older son married a Roman Catholic, and they are attending a Catholic church, so that my 7 year-old grandson can have his first communion there. My younger son married a woman who finds religion of no interest or perhaps actively evil; as a result, my son no longer attends church, even on Christmas or Easter when I would particularly like company. I attend ELCA churches, not only on Christmas and Easter, but nearly every Sunday. I believe strongly in hearing the Word and receiving the Sacrament every Sunday. I look forward to being inspired by the Spirit and strengthened for the work ahead. However, no one attends with me. I wish I could find someone to go with, to introduce church to, but, in spite of asking, no one yet. More precisely, my husband did attend church with me, once or twice, early in our relationship. I wanted him to understand how central church is in my life, but he hasn’t been back in the seventeen years we’ve been together. This was because he reacted strongly to the liturgy: It made him very angry. How dare that man standing up there tell him what to believe? The creed was a particular flashpoint: It was unbelievable, and he felt the pastor was forcing him to say things that he didn’t accept. Needless to say, we had then and continue to have many long conversations about the meaning of church and what happens there. This entire preamble is an introduction to my reaction to “Church Speak,” the message in the January, 2018, “Living Lutheran” from Elizabeth Eaton, the ELCA’s Presiding Bishop. She points out that Christians speak a language that is unintelligible to non-Christians. They don’t have the vocabulary, but, more important perhaps, they’re not part of our Christian culture. Make no mistake; we do have a culture that we inhabit often without awareness. Many, if not most nonbelievers, feel excluded from that culture. The language of “repentance” and “salvation” that many Christians (including pastors) throw around so casually is often seen by those outside the Christian culture as insulting and condescending: “What do I have to be saved from? “Why to I want to go to heaven with those tedious, boring Christians?” “Clearly, all the interesting people are in hell, often consigned there by the Church.” Since I was drawn to the Lutheran Church in 1956, I’ve been trying to bridge the gap between our insular church culture and the wider world. I’ve resisted the call to turn inward toward churchly matters. I’ve strived to pop the church bubble that Bishop Eaton refers to in her message. I try to live in two worlds and attempt to do justice to each. I’m a biologist and that means I admire Darwin immensely. His discovery of natural selection has shaped completely, not only modern biology, but its practical offshoots, medicine and agriculture. Without Darwin’s insights, I’m sure we’d not be as far along as we are in applied biology and in our broader understanding of life. Can I be a follower of Darwin and a Christian, too? I believe fervently that I can, but I feel sad also that the idea of a Christian Darwinist is an oxymoron to most people. This is because most Christians don’t worship God, but the Bible. This is part of the Christian culture that separates us from others. Most prominently, the unsuspecting priestly scribe urging the faithful to hallow the Sabbath in Genesis 1, could not have realized the trouble that would ensue with the Bible worshippers from the 19th century to this day. Thankfully, religious academic work from at least the time of Darwin in the 19th century until now has produced a picture of the Bible as a human document, specifically as a Jewish document using peculiarly Jewish means to shape the biblical narratives. Unfortunately, rarely do I encounter pastors who will use this vast treasure of academic work to discuss the bible as a human document with their parishioners. The Bible, they claim too often in their preaching, means just what it says (in English translation). They do this, so as to not upset the faithful (who are the ones most faithful in their giving), thus reinforcing the bubble and turning away any who are not of the culture. Of course, the numbers of those who have turned away have now reached epic proportions, and church people are wringing their hands in despair. The people outside the church aren’t interested in the church; they don’t want to know the “in” language of Christians, and they think our culture strange, if not bizarre and dangerous. Yes, I’m a failed evangelist, but I keep hoping that the real point of church will somehow become apparent to those I talk to: You are loved. In life and death, you are loved. No matter what you do, what you say, what you think, you are loved. This means you can love others, give you self away for others, be present for others. You can emulate the One we follow. That’s the Gospel, the Good News. Sometimes it’s proclaimed in church. Maybe, just maybe, if we go to church, we’ll hear it. Come with me.