2022.04.14 | Great Humility
“Great Humility”
Rev. Dr. Arlene K. Nehring
Eden United Church of Christ
Hayward, California
Maundy Thursday
April 14, 2022
The downward trend in church membership and worship attendance in the U.S. have been popular topics of sociologists of religion, evangelism workshop, and clergy coffee klatches since I began my vocational discernment process 45 years ago.
Every once in a blue moon, these topics gain interest in the popular press--most notably around Christmas time and Easter, which are still included on many secular calendars. This year was no exception. A recent study conducted by the Pew Research Center reported that worship attendance is down by 50% across the U.S. since the start of the pandemic, though others report that participation via the Internet combined with in-person statistics indicate that overall attendance is higher.
Interest in these trends is understandable because, with rare exceptions, these statistics have been trending downward, in dramatic ways, across all Christian denominations for my entire life. Sociologists, historians, and theologians have all shared their data and analysis as to why this phenomenon is occurring.
Sociologists attribute the decline in membership and attendance to the increasing impact of secularization on Western Society, and they say that Christianity in the US has and will continue to follow patterns that have already unfolded in Western Europe.
Historians take the long view, and note that Church membership and attendance in the U.S. have, for most of the most part, been low since the founding of our nation, and that it was only between 1940 and 1960 that membership and attendance briefly reached and maintained a “high watermark.”
Fundamentalist and evangelical theologians tend to blame the apparent demise of Christianity on the work of the devil, while liberal theologians say that interest in institutional religion has been exchanged with “personal spirituality,” whatever that is.
The Christian theologians who offer much hope for a resurgence in the faith are liberationists who say that the domesticated version of Christianity that got too cozy with the status quo is dying a well-deserved death, and a new more authentic version of the faith is emerging among those who are striving for liberation and justice at the margins of church and society.
II
So what do we make of this mishmash of analysis and prognostication?
I tend to borrow insights from all camps. They each have their points. We could and should learn from all of them.
And there’s more to learn and comprehend about what’s happening with Christianity in the Western World and the Northern Hemisphere.
Whenever I see an article in the popular press about church numbers, or engage in a conversation about membership, evangelism, and/or the future of the Church, I am transported back to a conversation that I had with a mentor of mine years ago.
My conversation was with Jim Crawford, the Senior Minister of The Old South Church in Boston. He was my boss. At the time, we had worked together for about six weeks. It was our custom to go to lunch as pastors, all four of us, once a week. That day, he turned to me and asked me what I was studying.
I don’t remember exactly what I said, but I remember telling him that I had registered for an evangelism conference that was sponsored by the Metropolitan Boston Association, which featured one of the big name Protestant experts at the time. I thought Jim would be pleased, but he seemed more perplexed by my news.
When I shared the news, he sort of frowned, then lifted an eyebrow, and, “I suppose they’re going to tell you how to get people to join the church.”
I said, “I suppose so. If they don’t, I will ask for a refund.”
“What good do you suppose it will do to recruit more members?” Jim ventured. Then he went on to say, “Jesus never expected his message to be popular.”
Jim had a point. I replied, “You sound like a man who has spent a lot of time studying the gospels,” which, of course, he was.
Jim smirked, and all four of us chuckled over the thought that people might someday fill up the church pews like Red Sox fans fill up Fenway Park during a pennant race.
III
If most people were really paying attention to what Jesus was saying and doing, and what he knew was going to happen to him during the final days of his earthly life, very few if any would have accepted his invitation to the Last Supper, let alone shown up for the dinner.
Jesus had been transparent throughout his ministry, but few if any of his disciples clearly heard and understood what the gospel required of them or of him, and what danger lay ahead.
They didn’t hear or see, and frankly, who would want to?
They were smitten with Jesus’ rhetorical skills, his ability to perform miracles, and his growing popularity. They wanted to be part of it all. They wanted to ride on his coattails. They wanted front row seats. They wanted a place of honor at the table. They wanted to be first in the Kingdom of Heaven.
But they just didn’t get it. He had tried to tell them, but his words weren't working, so he decided to show them — by washing their feet.
There was nothing noteworthy about foot washing. Most people went barefoot, and those who didn't wore sandals. As a result, everyone’s feet got dirty, and feet had to be washed everyday. So it wasn’t unusual that feet were being washed in the gospel story.
The unusual part was who was washing whose feet. In first century Palestine, slaves washed master’s feet. Children washed their parents' feet. Wives washed their husband’s feet. Disciples washed their mentor’s feet. But the reverse did not happen.
Masters did not wash their slaves’ feet. Husbands did not wash their wife's feet. And teachers did not wash their disciples' feet.
Jesus upset tradition and challenged the social order at the Last Supper.
The Gospel of John, chapter 13, verses 4-9, tells the story this way:
…when [Jesus] got up from the table, took off his outer robe, and tied a towel around himself. And then proceeded to pour water into a basin and wash his disciples’ feet, and dry them with the towel.
When Jesus approached Simon Peter, Peter questioned him, "Lord, are you going to wash my feet?"
Jesus answered, "You do not know now what I am doing, but later you will understand."
Peter said to him, "You will never wash my feet." Jesus answered, "Unless I wash you, you have no share with me."
Simon Peter replied to him, "Lord, not only my feet but also my hands and my head!"
Prior to the Last Supper, Jesus’ disciples didn’t comprehend what his mission was about.
They didn’t understand that discipleship was about serving the least, the last, and the lost.
They didn’t get that there would be no bump in social status, no increase in earthly power, and no golden parachute with an early exit to a leisurely retirement.
Prior to this night, they didn’t sense the danger. They didn’t see the cross. They hadn’t counted the cost.
Now, they did.
And, they were greatly humbled.
And, they finally understood why there were only 12, and then 11, and eventually, 1.
And, now, maybe we do, too. Amen.