Church of the Advent Episcopal | Nashville Tennessee

Unintentional Church

For over twenty years I have said, “In the world, the week goes Monday through Saturday and there are two Saturdays…with no Sunday.”

Weekends include soccer and basketball games routinely scheduled on the “second Saturday.”  Friends meet friends for coffee and a bagel.  It is a great time to visit.  Also, it is a great time to read the paper, catch up on work or e-mail or facebook, or to do most anything.  Now Saturdays are so packed and busy with all of the activities, to have another day to catch up or finish up is really important.

Striking, also to me, is the high level of commitment many have to the day after Saturday.  “Our teams depend on every player’s commitment to make the season a success,” I have heard.  And, spending time with one’s family is a priority.  Many take their commitment so seriously that, when they have spent all day Saturday running around doing errands and catching up from their busy weeks, they are determined to have a day to get the whole family together for some “quality time.”  Or, some individuals feel that they have worked so hard all week and there is so much to do to manage the affairs of their lives, they deserve some “me” time at the end of their weekend.

With Lent, we learned that it takes about 40 days to establish a habit.  What we do with our Saturdays and our Sundays becomes a habit.  And, when habits are formed they are hard to break.  It seems that our weekends are designed to draw you in with more and more activity.  Have we fallen into a “weekend trap” filled with habits that prevent us rather than permit us to come together as the Church?

Paul writes in Romans Chapter 12, “Do not be conformed to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds…”  (Rom. 12:2, NIV)  Also, John records in his Gospel the words of our Lord Jesus, “My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one.  They are not of the world, even as I am not of it.”  (John 17:15-16)  Again, John records, “If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world…”  (John 15:19)

The world is a different environment from God’s environment.  Taking time out to gather together as the Body of Christ involves intention.  Yes, I know that our lives of faith are lived out in the world 24/7.  Yes, I know that to be “salt” and “light” we must be involved in the world around us.  Yes, I know that there is always a balance to our engagement with the world and our engagement with God’s Word.  It is worth noting, though, in this Easter Season, that the way we worship was turned on its head with the Resurrection.

Sunday – the first day of the week – the day of the Resurrection became the day for Worship.   It was recorded very early on from the Book of Acts (20:7) and I Corinthians (16:2) to Early Christian writings that the first day of the week was the day when the community of believers gathered.  Worship is by derivation a contraction of “worth” “ship” or better defined as “ascribing worth.”

Some people tell me they worship best at home alone or in nature.  This may be true but it is also patently false.  There is no such thing as a “lone ranger” Christian.  The Christian life is meant to be lived out in community.  And we may recognize the Creator in creation; we may even pause and reverentially give God due praise and honor.  However, sitting on the beach or by the lake for re-creation is not a substitute for intentionally putting ourselves under the Holy Scriptures and before God’s table to participate in Holy Communion.

It seems we have come to the place where the unintentional church meets at Starbucks or Panera, at Crockett Park or the YMCA, at the lake or on a hike, at Waffle House or your house.  It is there that “Wormwood” (“Screwtape’s” Junior Devil-in-training) is satisfied by the unintentional drift that squeezes God out of our lives.  People who join in worship once a month on average or less are missing out.  Those who come only on special occasions or “high” Holy days are nominal at best.  Yet, where the family of God, the Church, intends to gather in worship we always find that God is present and waiting.

We are stronger because of each other and weaker without one another.

Come, come to the church and worship.  Intend to gather and to receive.  If you find yourself not sure saying, “I don’t get anything out of church” or “the last time I went to church…” then pray.  Don’t stay away but pray — pray for God to show you what to do and how to be part of the crazy, joyful, powerful, and even sometimes messy experience of God’s family gathered together.

Be part of something intentional — come to Church!

Sincerely in Christ,

Tom Hotchkiss

Hebrews 10:23, 24

Holy Week 2012

In 2012, we begin April with a special week: Holy Week.  What makes this week special?  What makes this week Holy?  Why do we “amp it up” for this week and not for the 51 others?  Does anyone really know what “Maundy” means?  Why do we say Good Friday is “good?”  And, is everyone going to participate fully in the events of the “tridium” (the three days from Maundy Thursday to Easter Moring) this year?  All good questions.

More important, perhaps, than pressing on for one last week of Lenten asceticism; “doing” or participating with mind (thoughts), spirit (desire), and body (physical, active presence) will benefit each of us.  In services of the church, the assembly is afforded the opportunity to hear God’s Word.  Also, the congregation sees the action from the procession to confession to communion to blessing.  Finally, worship is an active expression as together we stand, sit, kneel, sing, say, and pray.

Worship makes an impression on us because we “do it.”

Starting with April 1^st, Palm Sunday, each of us has a new opportunity to “walk” the last days of our Lord’s life.  It is in not only the recounting of the story but also the reliving and participating and experiencing which allows us to consider anew the “sacred head sore wounded.”

I know that everyone will not be present every time we open the church doors; however, I do ask that everyone prayerfully consider how and when to “do Holy Week.” Make a plan (even if it means just five minutes alone each day with God) how to be active and involved in the steps from the triumphal entry to the stone tomb.

Walk the Way of the Cross on Wednesday, witness the Stripping of the Church after the Maundy Thursday Evening Service, set aside at least an hour to hear the Passion on Good Friday.   Most of all, be present with others at the church when possible (Hebrews 10:24, 25).

And, as sure as we do Holy Week 2012, we find ourselves celebrating the Resurrection on Easter.  The words from this Easter hymn say it well:

Easter triumph, Easter joy, these alone can sin destroy.

From sin’s power do thou set free souls newborn, O Lord, in thee.

Hymns of glory, songs of praise, Father unto thee we raise:

Risen Lord, all praise to thee with the Spirit ever be.

A blessed Holy Week and a Joyful Eastertide,

In Christ,

Tom H.

Habits of the Heart

Lent can be seen as a season that encourages habit-building or habit-breaking —- or both. Whether we gave up desserts, smoking, cursing at discourteous drivers, nail biting, liquor, cookies, or calories; or whether we began to exercise daily, read (rather than watch TV), write letters to long lost friends, get up earlier or go to sleep sooner — all of these “habits” are external signs of internal motives and meaning.

The Church — God’s people — set aside the days of Lent to prepare for the yearly celebration of the Resurrection of our Lord. The Church invited you on Ash Wednesday “…to the observance of a holy Lent, by self-examination and repentance; by prayer, fasting, and self-denial; and by reading and meditating on God’s holy Word.” (BCP, pg. 265, emphasis mine) The “call” of the church is to our hearts. Whatever we give up or take on is to come from the inside out.

In the classic little booklet My Heart Christ’s Home, Robert Boyd Munger describes the internal “residence” of God’s Son, our Savior. He tells of His presence more than His placement (we do not “put” Jesus in our heart). Munger speaks of the gracious love which God has through His Son — Jesus’ presence and transformative power at the core of our being — in our hearts.

One way I suggest that we build “habits of the heart” is through daily prayer and by “reading and meditation on God’s holy Word.” Last month, I suggested that you add daily prayers to your routine. Often, we are surprised how easily prayer “slides off” the screens of our lives, especially regular, intentional prayer. Our tradition offers a tremendous vehicle for hearing God’s Word and prayer through the Daily Office.

As you embrace and receive this Lenten season as a gift for your Spiritual life and health, consider spiritual habits. Take on a personal Bible study, ten minutes a day, for 40 days, or, as you play your favorite music on your iPod (preferably without words) to exercise, pray while you jog or walk. What if every adult in church on Sunday also prayed for 10 minutes each day of Lent?

Come and join us when you can and be a part of the community of our church praying together. During Lent we will be saying Morning Prayer, Monday through Friday, in the church at 7:15 a.m. Or, if you cannot join us, turn to page 38 or 76 in the Book of Common Prayer and say Morning Prayer “at a distance” with us together.

Ultimately, may we find new ways to outwardly express God’s calling on our whole hearts and lives. Give yourself over as disciples each and every day to spiritual habits — habits of the heart— that ultimately shape us. And, soon we will arrive at the joy of Easter!

Happy Habits and Holy Lent,
Tom H.