Communities of faith have been in decline for decades, which does not mean that faith is in decline, it simply means that fewer people are seeing the necessity of participating in a community of faith. A part of this is because faith traditions, like the Episcopal Church, have stubbornly held on to “traditions” that are no longer culturally relevant. Of course, an additional sticking point is that as a faith community attempts to maintain relevancy, they will potentially alienate the long-time members of the community who feel connected through the current programming and liturgy.

            Eli represents the old way of doing things, he has been a faithful servant of God for his entire life and has been teaching Samuel how to do the same. Samuel represents the new generation and appears to be happy to be learning the ropes and dutifully responds when Eli needs him, but God has a different vision for Samuel’s future, and calls him to be the voice to Israel, to hold them accountable as they struggle to move forward as a community.

            Paul’s very uncomfortable letter to the Corinthians is his attempt to address a lack of change. Corinth was known as a den of licentiousness, but that is not the issue Paul is addressing in his letter. He is concerned that the believers in Corinth are not changing their behavior to be community focused, instead they continue to focus on their individual desires without regard for how their actions are affecting everyone else, which is contrary to the teachings of Jesus.

            John tells us of the calling of Nathanial, which at first glance has nothing to do with what we heard from Samuel and Paul, but ultimately is also about community. While Nathanial believes right away, Jesus promises that if he sticks with him he will experience far more interesting things than what he as seen so far.

            God calls us to be in community with them and with one another as seen in the calling of Nathanial; they call us to adapt and change our culture, as seen in Paul’s letter; and they call us to speak truth to power, as seen in the calling of Samuel. One of the more difficult parts of being followers of Christ is discerning how to build community in new ways, so that we can remain relevant and assist God in their efforts to reach the people of the world. To be clear, I am not suggesting that we need to change our ways so that we can fill the pews and pay the bills, that is the old model. One could argue that what we need is to discern why so many people feel belonging to a faith community is not necessary, but that would be nothing more than an attempt to figure out how to get butts in pews.. Everything Jesus taught is about community and while we are aware of that, what we have not kept pace with is what community actually looks like outside of these walls.

What we do on Sunday morning has not significantly changed in my lifetime. The format is the same, the hymns are the same, the prayers are the same and while I find that comforting on one level, I am also aware that the language we use during the liturgy and the expectations we have for children are extremely outdated and unwelcoming. Much of my generation grew up in broken homes, many of us did not have father figures in our lives, so when we come to church and hear language and imagery that depicts God as our father, it doesn’t resonate. When my children were young my wife stopped coming to church because the expectation was that they would be still and silent. At one point the vestry suggested parents should take their children to the parish hall during the sermon, which was code for we don’t want your kind here because our experience is more important than all members of the community being included. This is the exact kind of thing Paul was raging against in his letter. The church members in Corinth were continuing to focus on their individual desires instead of what was best for the entire community.

            What we do here has to reflect every member of our community in some way, including the people who have yet to come through those doors because if it doesn’t, if what we do only aligns with what we think liturgy and community should be; then our efforts are not about God, they are about us. If liturgy is the work of the people then it needs to reflect all people. It needs to use language that speaks to all people, and we need to find ways to include all people because if we don’t then we are not following the way of love. Love never excludes, it doesn’t discriminate, it doesn’t divide. Love is inclusive, it creates a bond between us that can withstand divisive issues and turmoil. I believe that many people no longer see the relevancy of faith communities because our communities have lost sight of why we exist. We, our community, this community does not exist to provide pews for butts, we do not exist to preserve the exact wording of the Book of Common Prayer, we do not exist to perform the liturgy with perfection, we do not exist to make everyone happy. We exist to minister to the needs of the body of Christ and as the body changes we need to also heed the call to change. The body of Christ is over 2000 years old, and it has changed immensely in that amount of time, but yet we still think that what was done in 1955 is the right way and cling to it as if our life depends on it. We lose sight of that fact that the reason the church has lasted for over 2000 years is because the church has lived, died, and been resurrected time and time again.

            Eli was preparing Samuel to tend to the temple as he had been taught, but God had a different plan, he needed Samuel to help bring about the resurrection of Israel. The Christians in Corinth struggled to let go of their individual desires, which were getting in the way of God’s attempted resurrection. Nathanial answered the call of Jesus to leave his life behind and take a chance on unknown possibilities and the work he did as a disciple of Christ Jesus laid the foundation for us to also experience the resurrection as the body of Christ.

            St. John’s is experiencing a resurrection. The Spirit is alive among us, it is pulling us in new and exciting directions, directions that are allowing God to reach the people “out there”. I know this is true because every week there are new faces and many of those new faces have become familiar faces. We are surrounded by resurrection, but to see it we need to let go. Amen.