Bunnies, Benefits, and Britain.....

It's been quite the interesting week for Christianity in the United Kingdom. Over the weekend, Lord Carey, the former Archbishop of Canterbury, delivered a resound denunciation towards the current government as being "anti-Christianity." Not entirely the message one expects to hear over the Easter weekend and I imagine it took many in Downing Street by shock. If you've read Lord Carey's address, then you might be able to see that he seems less motivated by concern for Christian charity and practice, than he does by his own ideological ideas. Still, none the less, there is a slight irony and truth in this rebuke. The current government, whether by choice or by chance, has placed the nation's Christians -and, really, all faith communities - in a bit of an awkward situation.

Tomorrow, April 1st, is the day that the government's new budget will come into effect. This budget will see a sweeping reduction to public benefits as Britain tries to reign-in its spending figures. I don't intend to debate whether the budget cuts are right or wrong, necessary or unnecessary. That is a conversation for another place and another time. (Though, it is an important one to have!) The fact of the matter is that: tomorrow morning a significant number of folks are going to face some daunting economic factors which they had previously not. For some folks, this will involve a mild pinch in the pocketbook. For others, however, this could mean the difference between having a meal to eat or not. It is not the imposition of these laws which, on its own, places Christians in a conundrum. It is instead the fact that these laws come into effect the day after the world Christian community celebrates Easter; the highest point and happiest day of the Christian year.

Words like "paradox" or "irony" do not even begin to cover the situation.

It is this timing, this juxtaposition of impending financial hardship with the joys of Easter, which places Britain's Christians in an odd spot. If we, in any way, believe the words we said today when we claimed "Christ is risen, he is risen indeed" then we cannot ignore this imposition of cuts. If we truly believe that Christ is risen and alive in us, then we cannot ignore the suffering and needy of this world. If we truly believe that Christ's words are eternal and true for us today, then we cannot forget the "least of these" as they were described so many years ago.

These benefit cuts, harsh though they might be, offer the church, as an institution, a massive opportunity. In this time, the church has the opportunity to make its ministry and charity real to its community and involved in the life of its neighbours. Rather than being a symbol of charity and faith, the church has the opportunity to become charity and faith personified. What do I mean by that?

Many churches are involved with charity works. Many give deeply and generously to wider community groups which do wonderful and necessary works. My advice to churches is: don't stop doing this! However, in addition to your monetary support for these groups, I would offer some ideas which can take part in the actual life and action of the local church as well.

For instance:

Does your church host a food pantry or cupboard for those who are in need? If not, could you?

Does your church offer support to single mothers and fathers? (Help with diapers, child-care, or other items?) If not, could you?

Does your church offer support and community for older folk? Visiting them for community and also to check on their wellbeing? Again, if not, why aren't you?

Is your church offering programs to help folks learn how to manage their monies and their debts? (Which, btw, most folk in debt would like to NOT be in debt, but aren't entirely sure of the options available to them, or even how to make the proper choices to begin to come out of debt!) Is this something your church could organise and host?

Is your church involved with tutoring local children, so that they might be assured of further and better education? (Ps: If you've got lots of retired folk, this might be a great way to network them with younger generations and also to pass on their skills and knowledge!!!)

Finally, could your church host a job-fair/fayre? Could you bring local employers and local job-seekers into your halls to connect for potential jobs or, at the very least, interviews?

Again, if not, what's stopping you? If you proclaim today that "Christ is risen," that means Christ is risen tomorrow as well.....and the next day too! If Christ is eternal and Christ is alive, then so are Christ's words. Loving our neighbour as ourself and caring for the least of these is never an easy thing to do, but, it is, especially at this time an absolute necessity.

Holy Week and Unholy Choices.....

I don't normally post my sermons from church, but I figured as it's Holy Week, I'd do something different. The following is my sermon for Holy Wednesday, or, the Feast of Tenebrae, depending on how you want to title it. The reading, for the night, is John 13: 21-32.

Btw, I promise to return to my normal snark and such next week..... promise......

Well, we’re smack in the middle of holy week. Which means, the energy and excitement we encountered on Palm Sunday is now, perhaps starting to flag a bit. When you think about it, it’s an interesting thing, this Holy Week of ours. It is, usually, the one time of the year where we might find Protestant churches engaging in daily worship or activity....and it’s also well known as the most tiring week on the church calendar both for clergy and for congregants. Between movies, discussions, services, communion, and the occasional foot washing, there’s quite a bit going on. Not to mention the fact that some sadist in the history of the church decided we should be up and excited for worship on Easter morning at some entirely unholy hours. All in all, this holy week gig can be a bit of a downer, when we think about it. So, perhaps you’ll humour me for a few moments as we ask: what’s the point of holy week? 

It’s a fair question. Most of us can see the significance of Easter sunday and maybe even Palm sunday, but what’s the point of this entire week of events and services? Surely, if we wanted to be prepared in our praises for Easter morning, it would be better if we took the week off and rested, meditated, or did something other than showing up at the church every night. To be honest, I think there might be something to that logic. However, there’s also something deeply powerful and deeply meaningful in the action of Holy Week. Some would say this power and meaning might lie in the recreation or remembrance of Christ’s actions 2,000 years ago in Jerusalem. I think we might certainly find some meaning in this, but I don’t think that’s where the true significance of the week comes. You’ll have to forgive me, but I don’t necessarily hold the gospels to be strict historic sources. John tells us one thing, Mark, another, and Luke and Matthew have their own accounts as well. Oh, most certainly there’s significant overlap there, but none the less, we have a bit of a problem if we want to use the gospel texts for historic recreation. Again, I’m not saying we might not find significance and deep meaning in recreating a passover supper or in washing each others’ feet like Christ was reputed to. Instead, however, I would like to offer a different perspective of what makes Holy Week significant. 

Holy week, is significant to the Christian church, in that, it encompasses a recapitulation of the whole crux of the human experience within one short week. Now, what do I mean by that? Holy week begins on Palm Sunday with the greatest of joys. It’s a triumphal entry and the promises of a new beginning. Slowly, however, this joy ebbs away and the joy is finally turned into utter terror, frustration, agony, and anger in the horrific events of Good Friday. But that, as we know, is not where the story ends. Out of this fear and horror, in the midst of all the angst and frustration, a new and amazing solution, a salvation, if we might, is born. To paraphrase the philosopher Soren Kierkegaard, in holy week we see God do the absurd but through this absurdity we find salvation moves from ideal to reality. And in this, we find a mimicry of our own human realities, really. 

So many times in our lives, we find ourselves presented with wonderful new beginnings and incredible opportunities. However, with time, those opportunities and beginnings can sour. That which we loved and enjoyed becomes upended into that which we fear or that which frustrates us. This comes in many forms. That promotion we’d be just perfect for in the job we love is snatched from us. That person we love and care for, turns out to not love and care for us anymore. And onwards we could make the list. The sum of things is, joy, so often can turn to pain in such a very short time. That which we hope and pray to never happen, so often does. And when it does: we mourn, we grieve, and we wait. But Holy Week reminds us that this time of trouble is not the end- it is only an amazingly uncomfortable mid-point. 

It is, we might say, that life is like an artist’s cartoon drawing for a local newspaper. I imagine it’s a rather exciting thing to start such a drawing, though, over time, as coloured dots are being placed here and there, the drawing can seem muddled, jumbled, and to lack focus. This must be especially true from the perspective of the dots of paint on the canvass. From their view, all they can see is a mess of dots and colours, bleeding together and making very little sense. None the less, from the artist’s perspective, things -though messy and mottled from a direct and close-up perspective- are coming together to make a beautiful, funny, and poignant picture. This, is what Holy week, in its entirety reminds us of. 

But while we might draw this large comparison, what might we draw from our texts for tonight? If holy week is a re-telling of the whole of human existence, then what might we draw from tonight’s gospel text with regards to our lives?  A fair question indeed and one for which there is a potent answer. 

In tonight’s gospel text, Christ stands upon a precipice. Christ seems to be able to survey the wider landscape and realise that things are about to get ugly. Getting down and dirty, putting one’s money where one’s mouth is, call it what you want, but it seems Christ is well aware that things, as they say, are about to hit the fan. Big time. I suppose that Christ, by virtue of being Christ and seeing the conundrum ahead of him, might have been able to re-order things or re-set the equation so that such harsh things might be avoided. The fact of the matter is, he didn’t. Instead, he got on with it. I don’t imagine Christ as a masochist, so I doubt he let actions proceed because he was excited for the pain to come. Instead, I imagine he probably realised that this was the way to salvation and so the temporary horrors must be endured for the amazing outcome they’d produce.

While I don’t think any of us have faced something so grandiose, we none the less face times where we know what choices we should make and not only what good they will do, but what pain they will bring in the short term on the way to the greater good. Leaving a relationship with a person who is so abusive and yet one we care so deeply for. Having the courage to speak out against the corporate practices which harm the marginalised of society. Living in truth and honesty of ourselves, with those who would rather we lied. However it appears, we often face situations which are similar to the one we see in tonight’s gospel. Often, we, as Christ perhaps might have, know we might be able to circumvent, change, or ignore these decisions we face. But we’re also well aware of how we’ll miss the true joy and liberation which might come after the hardships of such decisions. And so, we are left with choices -unpalatable though they might be! Though our choices may be unpalatable and be the things we wish least to do, may we, like Christ, find the strength to make the difficult yet necessary decisions in life, knowing that, though the colours may blur, the design may seem wrong, and at times all might seem a wash, we none the less are under the hand of the Infinite Artist, who is using us to bring about the most beautiful of portraits and the most masterful of works. 

Church and Business Prt 2: Marketing, Missions, and Making a Mess...

     Okay, so, I wasn't planning on taking this long with the second instalment of this bit, but the last few weeks have been entirely sodding hectic! My apologies to the three of you who have been waiting with baited breath for this. :)

If you had told me, ten years ago, that I would ever work as a minister in a missiology focused context, or even with a missiological flavour, I would have told you that you were entirely daft. (And that's putting it nicely.) The main reasons being that I associated "missions" with going to third-world countries where I had to sleep in the dirt and/or encounter things like spiders -which I DO NOT do- or I associated it with randomly approaching someone in a coffee shop and saying "Hi, have you thought about where you'll spend eternity?"

Thankfully, in the time since then, my perspective has changed. I was lucky enough, during my seminary career, to be a part of and serve with a church which had a really ingenious idea for missions. Mission, to this church, was everything we did.  Whether it was walking down the street and chatting to our neighbours. Whether it was having a beer -or 5- with a colleague and talking about life. Whatever it was we did, it was "mission," in that we, as followers of the crazy Christian faith were having an opportunity to live out the ancient great commandment and love our neighbours as ourselves. It was, we might say, all about lifestyle and less about specific action.

So what does all this have to do with business and -as the title hints- marketing?

Well, I think a large portion of the Christian world views the concept of "mission" in the way I previously viewed it. Mission involves big trips, big money, lots of gimmicks, and lots of prepared answers or speeches.

Case in point: The other week I was out with some friends. A buddy and I popped into a quick shop for a bite. The following scene went a bit like this:

Lady in front of me:  "Oh, you have very beautiful eyes!"
Me: "Uh, thanks?"
Lady: "No, really! They're quite gorgeous!"
Me: "Oh, uh, thank you?"(This is universal code for "Uhm...you are entirely creeping me the heck out, lady.")

-Lady pays for her stovie and leaves-
Friend: "Mate, she just dropped a card in your pocket....I think you got hit on by a prosti!"

Sure enough, the lady had dropped a card in my jacket pocket. However, the card wasn't for adult services, it was, instead, for an Alpha course. (Alpha courses are conservative out-reach/theology courses run by a few churches over here.)

No, I really can't make this up. Sadly, this is what a large section of Christianity -progressive and traditional- view mission to be. <sigh>

So, if the church were a business, what might missions look like?

To begin with, the church would understand that it must look at mission in a macro and micro understanding. Any solid business will have its large marketing and its local marketing. Macro-marketing would be things done in the interest of expanding the business and/or its influence and reach into new or potentially new markets. Micro-marketing would be focused upon building up a solid base to sustain and enable the business in the locations it already inhabited. These two must live in harmony as a macro-dominated marketing plan will never succeed as it doesn't have the foundation to draw upon. A micr-dominated marketing plan will never grow and eventually might even exhaust its local market.

Hopefully, you can draw the parallel here: It's fine to send money, people, or whatever "over there," as part of missions. However, if you can't say how "YOU" personally, are involved with the mission of your faith community and how that mission lives out your ideals locally, then there's a problem. A big problem.

Secondly, in the realm of marketing strategies, there's a bit of a rule: IT MUST BE GENUINE!!!!
Gimmicks, discounts, treats, and other enticers only work for so long.
(ie: You can have the best food in the world at the cheapest prices, but if the service stinks and the restaurant is a dump, folks aren't entirely likely to come back at all, let alone frequent your business and recommend it.)
In other words, what you advertise must be real. If you advertise a family experience, then by golly, it better be a family experience. If you advertise a casual atmosphere, a home-style atmosphere, a foreign atmosphere, IT BETTER DARN BE THAT WAY! Businesses that are gimmicky, fake, or flakey tend to pop up and disappear rather quickly. Businesses that embrace what they are and offer that in the best way possible -be it a restaurant, bank, whatever- last for ages.

Oh, and about the "bait and switch" gimmick? Yeah, that's called "false advertising" and it can land you in an entire world of legal hurt.

Again, I think you can see where I'm going with this. If you're a conservative church, be a conservative church. If you're a progressive church, be a progressive church. If you're seeker oriented, be seeker oriented. If you're focused on families and family groups, then be so to the best of your possible abilities. Whatever it is you feel your church embodies and wants to take out into the world, do it and be genuine about it. No gimmicks, no lies, no fuss.

As a final point, I'll say that, with marketing, there's always an underlying job of bringing your employees to embody the ideals, values, or campaign you're marketing. The best companies in the world are the companies where the employees agree, are on-board with, and live out that company's stated ideals and visions. People notice these things. They appreciate them and it tells a person that "hey, this is a place I should give my business b/c even the people who work here really like it and are passionate about it!"

So, with that said.....are you on-board....or are you offering cheap gimmicks?