OPEN or NOPE

When it comes to taking vacations, there are, I believe, at least two kinds of people: those who take them to relax and “veg-out” and those who like to explore and do stuff. I’ve mentioned this before – but in my household, we have one of each.

This most recent August we planned a nice quiet two-week vacation in Lewes. It’s been a tad of a tumultuous year in our family and we thought 14 days of peace and quiet would be the perfect respite – and it was – kind of!

Our started mid-morning with a brisk walk around the neighborhood with the dogs, usually resulting in one of them pooping out due to the heat and pace, and then we’d home and change into appropriate bike wear for an hour long sprint on our road bikes throughout Lewes and Cape Henlopen.

We returned from that in time to pack a light lunch, refill water bottles, put on bathing suits, and balance two chairs, a large umbrella, cooler, Frisbee, towels, hats, books, and a variety of sunscreens on our mountain bikes.  Then, we rode back into Cape Henlopen, park our bikes, and schlep all of our beach gear to the shore.

While at the beach, we had some time to read, snooze, and relax – but we also took long walks, carefully avoiding bathers and nylon fishing line at neck level, and then returned to play Frisbee or paddle tennis. After a decent amount of time, we reversed the process, carried and rode all the stuff home, put it away, rinsed off sand, showered, hung out clothes to dry – and, at about 5 p.m. – my idea of a vacation began.

We basically followed that routine for 14 days straight. I lost 6 pounds and was in the best shape of the last 20 years. All while supposedly on vacation.

The route to and from the beach took us past a small grouping of rather rustic shops – a less charitable person might even call them “shabby.” One is a resale shop that specializes in all kinds of reclaimed building parts – weathered shutters, old doors, tables, benches, weather vanes, keys, hooks, and hinges. It’s aptly named, “The Old Screen Door” and outside, hanging from a rickety porch rail, hangs 4 large hand-painted letters that tell a prospective customer everything they need to know as they approach. The letters either  spell “OPEN”, or, when the proprietor is out gathering merchandise or doesn’t feel like working, the last letter is moved to the front of the line and the sign simple says, “NOPE”!

No fancy signage, no neon, no complicated listing of hours – just OPEN or NOPE. Kind of says it all in an unambiguously simple way. It either is or it ain’t!

I wish more places used this system.

I’ve walked into restaurants that were supposedly open but then had to peek around the corner to find a host or wait person; or stores that you’re really sure want business, or customer service numbers where the “longer than usual” wait times extend to the “second coming.” Really – are you open or nope? It shouldn’t be that hard to figure it out.

Well, since we’re in one, it’s only fair to include houses of worship in our “Cavalcade of Ambiguity”. 

There’s just not a church on the planet that doesn’t consider itself “friendly!” Google it and stand back from your computer because the avalanche of hits might actually spill off the screen. Signs, letterhead, websites, Facebook pages, mugs, cards, and banners al l proclaim how darn friendly every Christian church strives to be. It’s become the litmus test of their marketing: “make sure you tell em how friendly we are!”

Once, how refreshing would it be, to see a church describe itself as “closed minded and grouchy – but looking for more like us!”

What do you think is meant by a church labeling itself “friendly”? That someone will greet you? Smile at you? Shakes hands and say “welcome”? Invite you to sit near them? Help show you the ropes – maybe give you a “welcome packet” and point out the restroom? Invite you to have coffee hour after the service and meet more “friendly” people? Introduce you to one of the pastors? Invite you back next week to worship with them again?

I think that pretty much captures it and on a good day – all of that happens here, yet I’d crawl under a rock before I added the word “friendly” to any of our marketing material.

We use that tagline, “a church without walls that welcomes without limits…” whatever that means!  I get a significant amount of good-natured teasing about that from colleagues who wonder how we hold up the roof – but I remind them that they’re just jealous!

Truth is, our church isn’t very friendly – not from the outside at least. It’s massive, imposing, and somewhat intimidating – not unlike some boarding school matron!

Yes – it’s a lovely edifice and fits well on this august corner of Rodney Square, but given that the doors on Market Street are sealed shut most of the time and even 11^th Street doesn’t look very open – I don’t doubt that most of folks who trudge passed every day assume that we’re a closed up bunch. Our sign always says, “NOPE!”

Case in point – a week ago Thursday, during a noontime concert, the steel drum band of UD was playing – good golly – I’m convinced we’ve never reached that decibel level in this room. We had the doors open and due to the blast of sound emanating from the sanctuary, a small number of people, tourists even, wandered in from the street and enjoyed the short concert.

Imagine – something happening inside the church, that when folks in the city heard it, they were compelled to venture through the doors.  Amazing…and sadly a rare time that folks found the place open!

Now, no one joins a church for the music. It may be an attraction, it may be a wonderful addition to a worship experience – but I don’t expect folks who attend concerts here to join – it’s not the purpose of the music and we’ll be sorely disappointed if we hold to that expectation. Not to say that folks who come to a music or speaker event or even wedding here might be curious about the church, explore what it’s about, and then join – but that’s a different scenario.

The goal is not, then, to be an entertaining or even a “friendly” church. Neither are biblical and are somewhat of an affront to the gravity of the community that Jesus envisioned, at least how it’s reported in the Gospels and by Paul.

Yes, the world is full of “friendly” churches but what the world needs, and Jesus expected, is “open” churches.

Open…to new people, new gifts, new wants, and new needs.

Churches that are simply “friendly” make use of some very informal and covert vetting processes:  Do you look like one of us? Are you from around here? Are you educated? Who are your people? What are your interests? What other church have you been a member of?

An open church, on the other hand, seeks to understand how God is calling them to widen the circle of inclusion and discipleship as they embrace new people.

For truly open churches, two questions live in concert:

1.  How will we share God with others?
2. How is God sharing others with us?

This little chunk of Isaiah 45 is perfect for this. If you were to be asked, “who is the messiah?” By rote – you’d likely say, “Jesus Christ!” and you’d be partially right if you were in the New Testament and 100% wrong in the Hebrew Scriptures.

Cyrus, King of Persia, is the Messiah in Isaiah’s book.

Cyrus ruled Persia from 558 to 530 BCE. The Babylonian Exile, the time period in which this portion of Isaiah was written, took place between 587 and 539 BCE. While the Hebrew people were being held captive in Babylon, Cyrus conquered that country, and in a surprising move,he set the people free to return. As we know, just a fairly rabid minority did, the others having built lives in a new land stayed, yet Cyrus’ magnanimous gesture endeared him to Greek and Jewish historians alike.

Cyrus was praiseworthy in that unlike most of his contemporaries, his attitude after overtaking a country was one of tolerance and understanding. Now he wasn’t exactly Dr. Phil, but he recognized that once the territory was his, he could spend his capital and military might wrestling the people into submission or he could allow them to live their lives – paying taxes, of course, to his treasury. That posture allowed him to successfully expand his territory, increase his military, and continue his reign in comparative peace.

For all of that, he earned the title of “messiah,” of God’s anointed. Here’s the really strange little part of that: He had no idea who God was! Nope – no hymn-worth call story, no “is it you Lord” theatrics – he was completely oblivious that he was an agent of the God of Abraham, Issac, and Jacob – in fact, he had no clue who they were either!

God accomplished God’s mission with a very unlikely person who had no idea who God was.  A servant commissioned even in the absence of acknowledgment – not unlike little Rylan this morning.

God had a new method, a new person, a new place, and clearly a new idea – all of which is tough to accept especially when God has been so domesticated by the likes of us.

Being “chosen” (frozen or otherwise) does not exclude God’s choosing and including others in God’s story even when the newly chosen is from a different tradition or family or has different interests. When you think about it, what allowed Israel and Cyrus to joyfully co-exist with God’s apparent blessing was that they shared a common purpose.

There may be many different kinds of people, and lots of different ways to vacation, but perhaps there are only two kind of churches. So, good people of First & Central – are you and we OPEN or…?

Amen!