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This is a view from my drive north on 52. It is a couple of abandoned VW Beetles - the original kind. One was yellow, like the one my Dad drove (The Peril) and one was red like the one my brother drove (Sammy - though Sammy was a convertible). Seeing them, I almost always let my mind wander over the wonderful memories of those cars. I learned to drive a stick shift in The Peril, with my Dad’s big, work-hard hand on mine as I went through the gears. And the day my brother came to the door having high-centered Sammy between two corn fields. By the time we got there, four local neighbors, all farmers, were standing around in their overalls speculating about how he did it and how Dad was going to un-do it. They are wonderful, warm memories from a time long gone.
Those Beetles have passed out of usefulness. We as a culture have moved on from the novelty of an affordable small car that was quirky, with an engine in the back, “not so much a car as a means of transportation.” These days we need cars that get great mileage, can withstand the weather, and will protect us when we get crosswise with the wildlife. We need to carry things, we need to pull things, we need to be able to afford the gas, and we like an airbag when we need one. There was a time, remember, when they tried to remake the Beetle - update it and make it attractive for those of us who remember when a car was a circle, not a square (or triangle). It wasn’t a big success.
Also in the photo is an old church. It was once a lovely white steeple chapel facing the road. No doubt it was the stage for many weddings and baptisms, many Christmas pageants and Easter egg hunts. It was probably the place where recitals were held, and maybe family reunions… And, over time, more and more funerals. For people in that area, that church probably also brings up wonderful, warm memories from a time long gone.
And it, too, has passed out of usefulness. Church now is not so much a fixture in the center of town where all the social activities are presumed to take place. Families are dispersed across the counties and the country. Our world is much more multivalent, there is more than one church to choose from, you don’t just go to the one down the street or the one your parents went to. And now soccer games and hockey games and the boat on the lake are in direct competition with the weekly vibrancy that this lovely structure once enjoyed.
But, like the cars, the need for the Body of Christ has not gone away, it has just changed. We still need a life of faith that gives us hope in a deeply discouraging world. We still need a church that has an impact on our communities and our families, so that if the doors closed tomorrow, more than the congregation would miss it. We still, maybe more than ever, need not just to live from day to day, but to find meaning in our lives. We still need the Good News of God in Christ.
And like the New Beetle, there are occasional efforts at re-booting “the good old faith of our fathers” and promising to have the pews as full as they were in the 1980s. But, like the new Beetle, it never is a big success.
The Body of Christ is not a static thing. It is not true that if we do it the way our parents and grandparents did it, we will be “doing it right.” The Body of Christ today has to reflect the needs of today. That may mean that we give up our buildings and meet in a community center. It may mean that we meet on Wednesday nights and people come for the chili and stay for the church. It may mean that we vary the language of the liturgy or the music. We want to alleviate the stress in the lives of our loved ones, not add to it. And maybe over time the value we find in attending services becomes greater than travel hockey or the boat at the lake…
This is not to say that holding church in the same building at the same time with the same people for generations is wrong. The point here is that there is no one way to be “church.” Rather, it is to say that the Body of Christ has to be adaptive, responsive, compassionate and unconditional. It has to reflect the fact that Jesus never ever said, “build it and they’ll come.” He said, “GO and make disciples.”
So, while there is a place in my heart for the old Beetle and the graceful once-white steeple on the roadside chapel… It is a wonderful and warm memory of a time long gone. It fills me with joy whenever I see it … on my way to be part of the Body of Christ in a different place, at a new time, in a relevant way … with you.
You remain in my prayers,
+Shay
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