Sunday Supremacy: The Devil is in the Details

Our churches never closed.

We offer worship, sacrament, pastoral and congregational care, faith formation and community, Bible study; and we preach and teach the Gospel, work for equity and justice, care for our selves, neighbors, community, and creation through relationships, not a building.

The building is a resource. Our God, our ministries, and our faithfulness are not bound by any walls; they are liberated in the abiding Holy Spirit.

We are deeply moved by our faithful love of God and one another. We are not tempted, goaded, or deceived by political pandering and golden calf theologies.

But, we are in covenant with one another, pastor and congregation, and we don't always agree. Our disagreements aren't usually life and death, except for LGBTQ+ inclusion, racial justice and Black Lives Matter, and Immigrant rights. For certain, our disagreements right now are life and death for those on the margins, and also those at the center. Without a national, concerted effort to bring us all together, we will continue to wrestle. With an intentionally misleading and disinterested presidential administration, we will all suffer, particularly communities of color, immigrants, lower income individuals and families, those in prison and detention facilities, our beloved elders in nursing facilities, and frontline essential workers.

Our congregations and pastors are wrestling with one another; their inner selves; the internet, microphone, webcam, and Zoom mute button management; their thresholds for isolation; their way of being in ministry changed overnight into a world that seems so foreign; holding together the ability to adapt to online ministry with the simultaneous hatred for it; the energy of having to creatively figure out new ways of being that transition abruptly as the shininess of the novelty starts dull; and their responsibility to their ministries and the health of their congregation and communities. All the time wondering, when will we worship in person again? Will we make it to that day? Will I make it to that day? Why can't we worship in the church building—the two churches down the street are. Four weeks later a resurgence of COVID-19 cases. Is your church overwhelmed with grief or gratitude? Are you sick or healthy? Wrestling, boundaries, threats, coalescence, open the doors, sickness and death, close the doors. Repeat. This is our next two years without effective national leadership. Unless, we figure it out ourselves.

If you feel driven to threaten or bully your pastor, church council, or congregation towards opening your church building or keeping it closed, take a breathe.

Breathe deeply. Soak up the liberating breathe of the Holy Spirit, and be full.

Fuller still.

Hold that breathe and feel your heart beat grow stronger and stronger. Let the courageous, loving heart of Christ shake your whole rib cage free. Your Creator gave you a powerful heart, so that you would have life and share that life with others.

Exhale as loud as you can. Force the tightness, control, fear, pain, and powerlessness out of your body. Exorcise your demons. They do not belong to you.

Breathe in again and invite the Holy Spirit to abide in you, to flush out that which does not serve your soul, and to give you peace.

Keep breathing.

Say a prayer of gratitude that you can breathe freely. Too many are gasping for air, unconscious with tubes down their windpipe forcing oxygen into their lungs, and far too many will never breathe again.

Your ability to breathe is a gift of life and love from your Creator who will not abandon you.

Make your prayer of gratitude a promise. A sacred covenant to God that you will protect the breathe and life of your neighbor as yourself.

If you still feel driven to threaten or bully, pause.

Ask yourself "why?"

Then keep asking until you get to the root motivation. Is it grief, powerlessness, pain, fear, loneliness...?

Is there a deeper need you have for healing, wholeness, relationship, peace, purpose, love, affirmation, blessing, to be heard, to feel God's presence...?

Find you "why." Sometimes you can do this on your own: Journaling, praying, ritual, Bible study, letting yourself feel through the emotions, exercising, gardening, just being still. Other times you'll need help. Someone who can listen for the movement of the Holy Spirit in your body, and tell you where they experience the Spirit's energy in you. Someone who can listen and hold up a metaphorical mirror to reflect back what they hear so that you can see your heart more clearly in the reflection. Someone who is curious and asks deepening questions about interconnections you hadn't noticed yet. Someone who points out when your body language changes and asks why. Someone who is skilled at helping you navigate to the center of things and through the various rationales and protective layers. Someone who will just listen as you verbally process, and clear out the weeds and tall grasses until you find or create a new path. That someone can be a trusted friend or family member, a spiritual director, pastor, or counselor. We all need these someones in our lives. Yes, more than one.

When you feel you've found your "why," share it with your pastor, church council, or congregation. Instead of making threats and bullying, share your heart, your soul, your faith, and your doubts.

Ask them if they will listen.

Ask them if they will pray with you.

Ask them for the blessing, love, and care that you need.

Then, ask them to imagine with you what might be possible.

What new ways can you imagine feeding your soul, body, and mind? What can you experiment with? What spiritual practices can you learn or reimagine? What relationships are life giving? What might you need to change or stop doing to be healthier, to create space for the Holy Spirit instead of feeding the demons?

If your imagining doesn't include others. Have the same conversation again with "we" instead of just "me."

How does what you are imagining relate to others? Do others have similar needs? Do others have gifts that might match your needs? Is there an opportunity to invite others into meaningful ministry? What are you doing with your spiritual gifts? How could you reimagine using your spiritual gifts as a way to be in power with the Holy Spirit, together? How will you be church together?

Now ask what you can learn from this experience. What are you learning about yourself, your faith, relationships to others, and about what it means to be the church? Is there more learning to do, wisdom to develop, faith to deepen?

The desire to threaten and bully others is an indicator that all is not well with your soul.

Breathe. Invite the Holy Spirit in. Pray. Be in relationship. Get curious. Find your "Why?" Ask for what your need. Ask what others need. Imagine ways to share your spiritual gifts in ministry together. Reimagine Church.

Don't be afraid to ask for what you need—or even what you want.

But when what you think you need and want come at the cost of others' lives, you are no longer acting in faith. This is the evil of supremacy, lurking inside, convincing you that you are more important, worthy, and powerful than another child of God.

The conceit of believing you are more important than others who are made in God's image is not new. In the scripture, there is one who believes they are supreme to God, and they are named devil—the spirit of evil.

In the church, when your needs and wants come at the price of another's life, you are sacrificing God on the altar to thyself.

Right now, being the church means sacrificing being physically close to one another. It does not mean sacrificing being spiritually and relationally close to one another.

Being the church does not mean sacrificing God for our supremacy.

It's well past time that we learn this lesson and put out those burning crosses with holy water too.