The Lectionary Gospel reading for March 14 takes us to a set of three stories about something or someone who is lost — a sheep, a coin, a child (Luke 15.1-32).  And in each of the stories a “finder” devotes passionate energy to searching (or, in the case of the father, waiting) for the one that is lost. 

It is no small point that Luke sets the stories against criticism from a few religious leaders of that day.  This tunes me in to the possibility that today’s religious leaders might want to pay special attention to these stories.  Gulp.

I suppose these lessons are appropriate Lenten lessons, but maybe less for individual Christians and more for the body of Christians we call the Church.  Can an organization reflect?  Can an organization examine itself and repent?  Sure. 

Is This About Our Mission?

In a sense we are asking tough questions about our corporate purpose.  We could ask it this way:  What can we learn from the Gospel lesson that helps us better understand the mission of the Church? 

Well, what is our mission?  There are a bunch of good ways to answer, but I’m glad to turn to our United Methodist mission statement:  To make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world.  

What’s The Point?

Mission.  Nothing else matters.  (I suppose.)  Our mission is the point.  (Is it?)  Our mission should motivate everything we do.  (Does it?) 

I wonder, if a visitor came into one of our gatherings or events, would he or she need to ask: “What’s the point here?”  Or, would it be obvious?  What is the point?  The lessons from Luke’s Gospel seem to be saying — three times! — that the point is not us, but the other “one.”  The other “one” is the point.  I guess we can ask our original question this way: Who is the point?

OK then, maybe we need to ask:  How does the Church actually behave (more than words)?  If we honestly examine the focus of most of our conversations and the bulk of our spending as a Church, we might discover that what we talk about and what we spend on suggests that I think I am the point.  Hmm.  Let’s take care of me first, then let’s worry about those others.  Let’s make me comfortable first, then welcome others.  Let’s keep things convenient for me, then we can worry about those others.  Let’s satisfy my needs first, then see what’s left over for some new person. 

A Better Question: Who’s the Point?

Who is the point?¹  Here’s the tough news.  If you are a leader in a congregation or a long-time member, then you are not the point.  Ouch.  (Sorry.)  Seems to me, if we are to take Luke seriously, the “point” are all the folks who are not yet with us — either because they don’t believe yet, or are turned-off from Church, or don’t feel welcome, or are afraid of us for some reason. 

Of course, we can argue — as we have over the centuries — about how to believe.  But even that question has become a distraction, as if some of us deserve to be the gatekeepers (…because, perhaps, we think we are the point…?)   

I wonder if our pious sounding arguments about how to believe have become a self-righteous distraction away from the “point”, which is to simply go and gather that other “one” and welcome him or her into the community of faith.

OK, I Am Not The Point.  Ouch!

This focus on the “other” starts with an honest realization: I am not the point.  Ouch.  

I realize this is a bit blunt (and unfair for many effective congregations out there, even my own).  But Lent gives me permission to be blunt²

At least, we need to ask the hard questions now and then.  Sure, as a church leader I am one of the safe and secure 99.  Maybe you are one of the safe and secure, too.  Which means we are not the point.  The “one” out there, the one I may not know, or even recognize out there is the point. 

So, let’s get to the point!

© Copyright by Jeffrey Y. Harlow, PhD (2010).

1. I know some of us in the Church might want to respond: “God is the point.  Jesus is the point.”  Right, all true.  But for this conversation we are concerned with a more functional, missional point, which is about our behavior as humans in the Church.
2. Unless I really do give up Lent for Lent!  See my previous article Lent, Logs And Windows .