Essay/Bible Study: "Connecting to Christ"

On the topic of Disconnected members, an essay/study distilled from an essay written for the Doctorate program.  As the Church works with lapse members, the goal is to connect with them in order to, hopefully, reconnect them. This study is not focused on the second part of it, though it is really important, but rather focuses in the first  – connecting the Voice of the Good Shepherd to disconnected members where they are.

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CONNECTING to CHRIST - LUKE 15

 

Every congregation has disconnected members. They are people who, at some point, attended in-person activities but that now have been away for some time. They may not have lost their faith altogether, but they have been away from the voice of their Saviour. In the Post-Christian Society in which we live confession of faith, especially of the Christian faith, has come into decay. Allied to this is normal nihilism, which brought to the Church and to Christians the duty of explaining themselves again in the foundations of their faith, since the western reference of a Christian God is not a given anymore.^[1] Another aspect of the spirit of the time is a cultural factor which even the most faithful Christian family can be hit by is the concept of a Discontented Age: Distraction (a digitally mediated culture that forms us to be distracted), Disenchantment (for many people, God seems distant from the world, the world exists apart from Him); and Disillusionment (stories of people who are in the process of falling away from faith).^[2] These features, and possibly others, show that the Christian faith and its confession may get lost in the shuffle of daily routine of many Lutheran families.

These cultural factors help in some measure to understand the numbers of what we might call “disconnected members” in Lutheran congregations. Therefore, reaching out to them touches the topic of Faith and Confession of faith. In one hand, it reaches out to gauge where their faith is, what are its needs and how can it be strengthened. On the other hand, disconnection may bring with it some disconnection from Confession of Faith as well.

In this context, this study focuses on reconnection with disconnected members, a reality present in every Lutheran congregation. They are people who, at some point, attended in-person activities but that now have been away for some time. They may not have lost their faith altogether, but they have been away from the voice of their Saviour from the pulpit, from the altar, from the consolatio fratrum and other opportunities among the people of God. They may be confused in their Confession of Faith and, therefore, have lost some appreciation for the Confessionalism of their congregation. They need the presence of their congregation in their life with the Gospel of Hope, helping them to draw their lives back closer to the bold confession that “Jesus is Lord”.^[3]

 

Disconnected

To define a disconnected member, different measures for different contexts may be utilized. For example: at Mount Olive, we could choose the definition as a baptized member who has been absent from in-person activities in the timeframe of twelve months or more. The reason for this stems from the fact that in the year of 2022 discussions prompted by financial obligations with the Synod brought up the discussion about active(connected) membership in our congregation. The notion of having attended Holy Supper at least once in the previous calendar year was proposed as the criteria to keep a member in the communicant member roster (if less than once a year, still a member, but not a communicant one). The logical inference, then, is that after over 12 months without attending Holy Supper at least once, a person is not considered an active (connected) member anymore, even though still listed in the membership roster. Therefore, amid different opinions and timeframes there are I opted for one provided by the congregation.[4]

As we look into the matter, it is a biblical fact that members who disconnect from the active life in their congregation have their share of responsibility in the disconnection. The third commandment and Jesus’ instruction to “this do as often as you drink it”, among other Bible passages, show they have been in a position of some neglecting of the teachings from the Word of God. However, one of the most common approaches to ministering to them tends to place the guilt in one end only -- the disconnected. Some disconnections though may not be related to the loss of consideration for higher values such as Faith, Church, and Religion. There could be some issues on the congregation side as well, such as problems and practices of the congregation, relationship and rifts among members, bad administration, to mention a few. One could add to the list the problem of geographical distances, such as in a big country with a small Church body like Canada. Some people may have not lost their appreciation for the higher value of the Word, but for the way it is practiced in the local outpost of it. Some people may be undergoing health issues and other types of difficulties.

This contrast of approaches leads to the realization that the reasons for disconnection may be as varied as the number of members of a congregation, while, at the same time, we know there is one common root cause to all of them – sin, which permeates all points of the spectrum (Romans 3:23). Adding to this, the pragmatic reasons for disconnection present a complex and nuanced scenario. For this reason, the most important thing and the starting point for the congregation is to have a heart of love and compassion for the disconnected (why reaching out to them) which then leads her to find ways to reconnect them to Christ (how can she reach out to them).

 

Connection to Christ - Luke 15:1-3

In Luke 15 the evangelist gives a powerful example in Jesus’ ministry on going out and connecting with the disconnected. Jesus illustrates what he is doing telling three parables on a similar topic – lost and found. Particularly in the parable of the Lost sheep we see the goal of connecting the disconnected to the voice of the Saviour; the desire to provide an opportunity that the lost sheep may be picked up and rest in the shoulders of the Seeking Shepherd.

This context that Luke provides – sinners whom the Shepherd intentionally seeks to encounter and have fellowship with - sets the opportunity for Jesus to bring a sequence of three parables with a common theme – lost and found.  Christian Congregations preach the Word of the Good Shepherd, and for that cause they take on the Commission and the teaching seriously. In this case, taking it seriously would be following His steps in not settling for a 1% loss and make all efforts, while possible, to connect the voice of the Shepherd to the disconnected sheep.

 

Luke 15:3-7

Verse 3 – “So he told them this parable” - It is agreed among scholars and theologians that a parable usually has only one comparison. There is one main teaching Jesus is bringing to His hearers. It seems that Jesus himself sets this model when he explains two of them to His disciples.[5] However, thousands of sermons have been preached along the centuries about the same parables with different angles and takes, and to different audiences.[6]

 

Verse 4 - “What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine fin the open country, and go after the one that is lost, until he finds it?”  - This is a rhetorical question to which the answer could be “none”. It could be argued that a shepherd might not leave 99 sheep behind to find only one. A 1% loss might be considered acceptable.[7] It would seem then that Jesus must be that shepherd. He is the one who is not willing to settle for even 1% of loss but would go tirelessly and relentlessly after that one sheep that is lost.

          Christian Congregations preach the Word of the Good Shepherd, and for that cause they take on the Commission and the teaching seriously. In this case, taking it seriously would be following His steps in not settling for a 1% loss and make all efforts, while possible, to connect the voice of the Shepherd to the disconnected sheep.

 

Verse 5 – “And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing.” Reconnection. The sheep is reconnected to her pastor. It is worth noticing that it would have been of no profit if the shepherd stood at the desert where the flock was and called for her. She wouldn’t be able to listen to his voice. The Shepherd goes after the sheep until He finds where she is.[8] He makes himself close to her so that her ears may be able to listen and to recognize the voice of the Shepherd and be reconnected to Him.

How can a sheep hear the voice of her pastor? It happens only through means. In a physical setting, the means is the air. If we think of the sinners that Jesus came to look for, their process of hearing happens when sound waves travel from the mouth to the ear of the hearer that stands at a certain distance where the waves can reach their ears and make the process of hearing happen.^[9] The ears can only receive communication through a means. When we amplify hearing to mean “receiving the message” through whichever means possible (a deaf person, for example, “hears the message” with his/her eyes), we realize that the only way a lost sheep can hear the voice of the shepherd is if she is within the reach of the adequate means that can bring the voice to her ears.

 

Verse 6 – “And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and his neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep that was lost.” -  Here’s a plot twist that might be oblivious in the context of the parable. The Shepherd takes the sheep on his shoulders. After that, He doesn’t take her back to the flock. Instead of rejoining her to the other 99, what he does is to go home and throw a party for his friends to celebrate the good news. Again, it might be pointed out that a regular shepherd would hardly do so. He would perhaps just go back, rejoin the one to the other 99 and carry on with his tasks. The uniqueness of the actions of the seeking shepherd points back again to Jesus. But the Shepherd does not take the sheep immediately back to the flock. He is not concerned first in reconnecting the sheep to the flock, but to him and his friends – which from what follows, seems to be the company of the angels in heaven.

Why so? Context helps us. Jesus is telling this parable to the Pharisees criticizing Him for eating with sinners. The Pharisees thought they were the right flock and the right fold, and that the sinners were the disconnected members. Jesus’ teaching shows that after He goes after lost sheep and finds her, He is not primarily worried about reconnection to the flock. He wants first and foremost assure the sheep of His presence, and to secure her firmly on His shoulders. He comes close to the sheep to make himself audible and receivable, reachable by the sheep, and to bring his familiar voice back into her ears. When He finds her, his main concern is to connect her to Himself, to have her on His shoulders, and to celebrate with the angels in Heaven. The concern is not also about how the sheep had behaved.  The first concern of the Seeking Shepherd, of Christians, and of a Congregation seeking disconnected members lies in providing connection with content that comes from Christ and His Word.

Reaching out to disconnected members will have the same purpose. It will bring the familiar voice of the Good Shepherd to sheep that, for different reasons, are out of the reach of His Voice as preached from his local embassy – the congregation.

          This does not equate to saying that every local congregation is a flock not worth of reconnecting the sheep back to, for the parable itself does not say so. What Jesus shows is that the primary focus of the Shepherd was to reconnect himself to the sheep that was outside of the reach of his voice. And then, to celebrate that connection with His friends. While we might presume that the Shepherd would reunite her to the other 99 later, what happens next is left to the imagination of the hearer. 

One of the things that might be observed though is that when the Church reaches out to disconnected members it should not be done so from a position of pharisaic legalism. Otherwise, we could be led to infer that not only the lost sheep needs healing but the fold itself needs to be healed to be able to welcome disconnected members back. Luther denounces that type of behavior: “Here, however, Christ intervenes with his judgment and says that those saints are to stoop down and take the sinners upon their shoulders, and are to bear in mind that, with their righteousness and piety, they are help to others out of their sins. But, no! That they will not do. And this is indeed the way it goes.”^[10]

We see that opinions based on better members x worse members (especially if attached to monthly contributions) assumptions about the disconnection, and any other reason that could show legalism or pharisaic motivations should be wrestled against and taken out of the way as much as possible. The focus must be on connecting the Gospel of Hope to the hearts of the disconnected. It is not an easy task and neither the world nor reason would be able to do it.[11] But it is a task that pertains to a Lutheran Congregation’s core mission, which call for means to make them reach their goal.

 

Conclusion

Twenty-first century disconnected sheep, as they stand miles away from the pulpit, the library lounge or the physical facility of congregations are away from the range of the content communicated in those settings. So, as the Shepherd in the Parable of the Lost Sheep, Christian congregations should not be willing to settle for even a 1% loss (unless the sheep herself comes to permanently refusing the voice of the Seeking Shepherd through the congregation). The effort is always worth undertaking of bridging the gap and establishing communication. It is the effort to have the disconnected sheep hearing the Voice of the Seeking Shepherd.

 

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[1] Okamoto, Joel “Evangelism in ‘an Age of Normal Nihilism.”Missio Apostolica, pages 33-43.

[2] David Schmitt, “Devotion and Discipleship in a Discontented Age”, Concordia Journal, 46.3 (Summer 2020): 13-34.

          [3] Okamoto, Joel P. “Making Sense of Confessionalism Today.” Concordia Journal, 2015.

[4] From the third commandment, for example, we receive the goal for every Christian, “remember the Sabbath day”, which ends up being unattainable by the force of the Law (James 2). The Barna web site defines as practicing Christian people who “identify as Christian, agree strongly that faith is very important in their lives and have attended church within the past month.” We see Jesus attending the synagogue (Luke 4), but we are not told in the Gospels about regularity, which could have been more than once a week; if so, we don’t have all the elements to know if that would be at the same “congregation” every week. In Acts 2 we learn about daily meetings. Hebrews 10 asks us to not abandon the habit of congregating even though not mentioning the ideal frequency for doing so. The first Christians started to gather twice a Sunday, for the early morning Service and for the Communion Service in the Evening.  The Confessions also do not carry a precise definition of an active member. When asked about what a good definition for active membership would be, one of the Elders of the congregation suggested, with some quick wit: “Someone who knows the name of our last three pastors”.

[5] The parable of the weeds (Matthew 13:36-43) and The Parable of the Sower (Mark 4:10-20).

[6] Mark Powell, for example, in a very interestingly way demonstrates how the parable of the Good Samaritan can be received and interpreted by different audiences in different contexts.Mark Powell, What Do They Hear?  Bridging the Gap between Pulpit & Pew, (Nashville: Abingdon, 2007), 65-107. 

[7] Ted Giese, Luke 15:1-3, 11-32, Forgiveness for All. Accessed December 07, 2022, https://lutheran-church-regina.com/blogs/post/forgiveness-for-all-luke-151-311-32-pr-ted-a-giese-sunday-march-27th-2022-season-of-lent-mount-olive-lutheran-church.

[8] Third Sunday after Trinity; Luke 15:1-10, Parable of the Lost Sheep, Parable of the Lost Sheep: A marvelously comforting sermon that Luther first preached to the Elector of Saxony in 1533, 15

[9] How the Ear Works | Johns Hopkins Medicine. Accessed December 6, 2022. https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/conditions-and-diseases/how-the-ear-works.

[10] Martin Luther, Third Sunday after Trinity, Luke 15:1-10, Parable of the Lost sheep Accessed December 08, 2022. http://www.lectionarycentral.com/trinity03/LutherGospel.html

[11] Martin Luther, Third Sunday after Trinity, Luke 15:1-10, Parable of the Lost sheep.