Too Small to Fail

 Zechariah 4:10 "Small Beginnings"

R. James Breiding wrote a book published in 2019 entitled “Too Small to Fail.” The title is a play on the phrase, “Too Big to Fail” which became popular in the mid-80’s to describe the theory that some corporations are so big that the government must prevent their failure for the good of the national economy. Breiding proposes in his book that smallness can be a strength, too. In fact, he shows that many small nations are achieving success in education, health care and satisfaction among citizens that larger nations find difficult to achieve.

Breiding’s book is not written from any religious perspective that I can detect although he has an appreciation for the contribution religion makes in the creation of social cohesion, and that cohesion is an important quality for a successful democracy. So “Too Small to Fail” is not a religious book, but it has implications for the church. Zechariah 4:10 written in reference to the small beginnings of the exilic Temple project reads,  “Do not despise these small beginnings, for the LORD rejoices to see the work begin. . .” (NLT).  For many people bigger churches are thought to be better than smaller churches, but that operating assumption is beginning to show weakness. Two pastors of very strong (meaning larger) churches have told me this week that they see a shift coming. Partly, the Covid-19 pandemic is responsible, or better said, the pandemic is accelerating a trend which had already begun toward the recognition that smaller can be and often is better. Some church growth strategists see the next expansion of the church happening through extension or creation of new churches rather than a large church just getting larger.

One church I know about has gotten ahead of the “curve” in this matter. The church grows to a certain size, and then it starts a new church in its own building. The pastor issues a call to members of the congregation to walk down the hallway to the chapel where a new mission church is starting. The mission holds worship at the same time as the “mother’ congregation. The mission incubates or grows inside the “mother” church until the new congregation has the numerical and financial strength to purchase property in another neighborhood, and the mission moves out to form a new independent church. The “mother” church then grows until it fills its building again and repeats the process. Several churches have been formed in this way.

Another model is for a stronger church in partnership with a smaller church develop a strategy in which the larger church issues a call to its membership for fifty people to go on mission. Their call is to join the smaller church partner that is struggling financially and struggling in finding leadership and struggling to connect with its community. The fifty missionaries stay with the smaller church until it gains viability. At that point some return to the “mother” church and some discover a new place of ministry in the smaller but now better functioning church. Instead of growing bigger and bigger the “mother church” re-seeds smaller congregations which enables those smaller churches to flourish.

It may be that the small to medium size neighborhood church is growing more attractive as a way to gather for worship, fellowship and service. The Covid-19 crisis has helped people see the benefits of smaller groups. Also, people are discovering that even though the phenomenon of video conferencing helps the church to stay connected, it is a poor substitute for in person community. The desire for community is leading to a new appreciation for the smaller church which offers a way to know and be known, a way to experience an extended faith family. Large congregations have an important place in church life, but today people are seeing that smaller congregations, also, have an important place in church life. They are not too big to fail; they are too small to fail.

Wearing Masks

The Lone Ranger, starring Clayton Moore and Jay Silverheels, was a television show that I did not miss as a child. When the opening musical theme began, the “William Tell Overture,” I was in place. Sometimes with my own cowboy hat, holster and set of six shooters strapped on. Sometimes I wore a mask because, of course, the Lone Ranger wore a mask. The masked man, the Lone Ranger, and his partner, Tonto, committed themselves to righting wrongs in the old west. This television show was on in the 1950’s. Movie versions have appeared, too, though nothing quite replaces for me the affection I have for the weekly tv shows. There were other masked heroes in my childhood as well, Batman and Robin, for example. Spiderman wore a mask. (Superman did not wear a mask. He disguised himself by wearing a pair of glasses when he was not in his super hero mode.)

So, masks are nothing new to me. From my childhood they have been part of my experience. Not only the experience of watching the Lone Ranger but children wore masks as part of the annual Halloween celebrations. Our grandchildren like masks, too. Ninja masks are especially popular with them. I suppose the mask wearing helps one imagine his or her assumed role as a hero. Earlier this year I saw a cartoon in which a doctor (they sometimes wear masks) was invited to stand with a group of super heroes. The caption to the cartoon read, “Welcome to the Club.” Having family members in medicine I liked that cartoon. Many doctors, nurses, and first responders have served us heroically during the Covid-19 crisis. I am grateful for them.

Of course, masks are used by people who do bad things to hide their identity. Criminals don’t want to be caught when they commit crimes. A mask helps them in their unheroic behavior. As an adult, until this year, I have thought of bank robbers and other criminals, not the Lone Ranger, when I have considered people wearing masks. What made the Lone Ranger unique is that he was one of the good ones, but he wore a mask. Mostly, I have associated the bad ones with mask wearing.

That is, I had thought of mask wearing as a shield to criminals until I started visiting in the East, particularly the Middle East. There I saw women who masked their faces out of religious conviction and modesty. After being in Saudia Arabia for two months I accepted mask wearing as typical. Women who didn’t wear masks seemed different, not the other way round. Of course, one does not have to move to the Middle East to experience some challenges in the messages communicated by clothing. I remember how surprised I was in my first months living in San Francisco when I went to the dry cleaners and stood in line with a Buddhist monk dressed in an orange robe. Of course, I knew that Buddhist monks existed and dressed in orange robes, but it was different for me to stand in line with my neighbor at the dry cleaners. Living in Virginia I have felt some dislocation related to clothing as well. On a Sunday evening I came back from a church service, perhaps, it was a funeral, and I was wearing a suit. I stopped at a local diner in rural Virginia about dinner time. Everyone in the diner, except me, was dressed in camo.

All this to say that what we wear is not typically in itself good or bad. How we dress is a complex blend of culture and personal style. Sometimes how we dress reflects our work. Surgeons wear masks and lots of medical people wear scrubs. Firefighters and police officers wear uniforms, as do priests and baseball players. Clothing communicates: our job, our style, our culture and even our religion.

Clothing styles change. Watch a sports news clip from a baseball stadium in the early 50’s. Young people may be surprised to see that almost every man at a professional ball game was dressed in a suit and a fedora. People who traveled by air in the 50’s often “dressed up.” As did people who went to church. Now, it is the other way round. Of course, the stylish slacks and untucked shirt may cost more than a man’s suit. The style of dress does not reflect cost or even attention to dress. People use their clothing to communicate. It is not always clear what is being communicated, but clothing requires some choice and some reason and consequently, some message.

Mask wearing during the Covid-19 pandemic has for some people become a political statement. Recently, the President affirmed mask wearing in a way that may de-politicize it. Hopefully so, since mask wearing seems to be a way to reduce risk of getting or giving the virus. At least, that is the theory of most of our medical leaders at this point in time. So, mask wearing is something I’m doing as a matter of health, for myself and for others.

I’ve read that in early pandemics people became quite creative in designing masks that were stylish. Some folks today are doing the same. A person’s mask gives opportunity to promote your favorite sports team or your school, your business or, of course, your political viewpoint. There is no way around it. Clothing, including masks, communicates. We do or don’t wear them. We style them in a particular way. We send signals to each other. 

I hope most people will wear masks for the sake of health. If you feel the need to make a statement then draw something on your mask or find some other creative way to fashion a mask message. If you have been reluctant to wear a mask then imagine yourself as the Lone Ranger, one of the good ones. Your mask wearing can mean what you want. Don’t let the mask itself mean something. Turn it into something positive for you. Make your own statement, and maybe the mask will be important to the health of all of us as well.

Sermons Should be Forgotten

All my adult life I have been a writer of sermons. I have worked hard at composition and delivery. I have done this work from a sense of calling. The church has supported me financially so that I have had the freedom to fulfill this vocation, and I am grateful. I am grateful for the calling, and I am grateful for the support. Along with the preaching vocation I have, also, been a pastor. To be a pastor and a preacher is the usual pattern. Some preachers only preach; they are evangelists or apologists or commentators of some sort. That model or way of preaching is not typical. It has special challenges I would think, but my life is the typical one: a life of writing sermons to give to the church in worship as a pastor. I believe these sermons of mine, and most sermons are best forgotten.

Sermons are forgettable because most sermons are meant to be effective as a part of a worship service. The sermon is part of something important that is happening in worship as the congregation is called to an awareness of God. When a congregation gathers for worship they enter a moment that cannot be repeated. The people gathered for worship in those particular circumstances will never in all eternity be together in the same way or have exactly the same experience. 

A sermon given in worship cannot be repeated. Even a sermon preached to an early service on Sunday morning and then repeated at the later service on the same day is not the same sermon. It is not the same because the purpose of the sermon in worship is to point us toward God. Through the preacher we see a man or a woman struggling, hoping, working, sometimes finding an insight which brings us closer to the one whom we worship. The sermon’s purpose, and the preacher’s vocation find fulfillment in those moments when a window is opened, and a member of the congregation glimpses the glory of God. This glory is never captured, but what a gift is given to the people gathered in worship when a preacher opens that window if only for a moment. The sermon may be forgotten, but the encounter with God is eternal. That sermon is ephemeral, but the sermon is also ineffable; it is a holy and unrepeatable moment given by God.