(Russian icon from the first quarter of the 18th century of Saint James the Great (son of Zebedee and one of Christ’s twelve apostles); located in the Transfiguration Church, Kizhi Monastery in Karelia, Russia. Image is in the public domain.)
Lectionary Scripture – Luke 9:51-62 NRSV
When the days drew near for him to be taken up, he set his face to go to Jerusalem. And he sent messengers ahead of him. On their way they entered a village of the Samaritans to make ready for him; but they did not receive him, because his face was set toward Jerusalem. When his disciples James and John saw it, they said, "Lord, do you want us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them?" But he turned and rebuked them. Then they went on to another village. As they were going along the road, someone said to him, "I will follow you wherever you go." And Jesus said to him, "Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head." To another he said, "Follow me." But he said, "Lord, first let me go and bury my father." But Jesus said to him, "Let the dead bury their own dead; but as for you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God." Another said, "I will follow you, Lord; but let me first say farewell to those at my home." Jesus said to him, "No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God."
“Put Hand to Plow”
My faith tradition’s worship resource notes that the above scripture is a call to follow Christ as well as a call to proclaim peace and proclaim the kingdom of God. Responding to these callings requires us to let go and to move forward into the future without hesitation. At times, this means that we will need to challenge cultural and even institutional understandings with which we grown comfortable. So the resource asks some very specific questions such as what ways do you and I try to “soften” the proclamation of the kingdom so it’s more “palatable” for the context or culture that makes up our lives? What would it mean if we quit doing such things and put our hands to the plow and didn’t “look back”? Lastly, what conditions would we therefore let go of in order to follow Jesus and go where he wants us to go?
For me, I deeply appreciate it when my faith tradition asks such pointed questions. Often however, I don’t know what to make of my tradition when it asks or advocates such frank and piercing things. Why? Well in my experience there are a significant number of congregations, pastors, denominational ministers and even some denominational leaders who continue a way of being that’s largely “business as usual” – this seems particularly so in terms of how precious local and global resources get used; resources which in actuality are God’s and not the property of one specific individual or group of individuals. Long and short of it, I can easily imagine a “Spiritual But Not Religious” person challenging my naiveté and saying, “What on earth did you think organized religion was about Brad. It’s mostly about ego, power, and money of a group that exists to serve itself. It’s not about your dream for healing humanity’s ills and returning the Earth to health.”
A while back I had some of these things affirmed to me during a meeting with judicatory heads from different faith traditions. As our conversations tend to go at these meetings, the subject eventually turned to the overall health and well-being of congregations in our judicatories. The concerns were numerous and weighty and centered on the subject of congregational decline. After a while I made the following comment, “I don’t wish to upset anyone but the trends of decline have been going on since the mid 1960s. At this point, it seems pretty clear to me that church as we have known it is passing away. For me, I believe that church will eventually transform into something quite different, however my sense of what that will ultimately look and feel like has yet to manifest itself.” One judicatory official responded quickly and said, “I believe you’re right and so the question for me becomes what 50 of my 350 congregations do I close in the next 5 years.” Nearly everyone nodded in agreement.
One individual then commented, “What’s capturing my interest is the Emerging Church.” I responded saying that it had captured mine as well and that I sensed God’s Spirit stimulating that movement. I also commented that in previous pastorate work I tried to communicate a vision for becoming part of the Emerging Church movement but I had failed to be persuasive in putting hand to plow and embracing the necessity of the movement’s principles and dynamics for our times. The congregation gravitated instead toward other things it thought would be helpful so it became necessary for me to move on from that pastoral role.
One other person commented that, “I have a problem with Emerging Church groups. Typically what defines them are the things about traditional church they’re against. For me, it means they’ll eventually run out of steam due to their negativity.” But another leader challenged those words and said, “Some faith movements got their start by what they were against, take Lutheranism for instance. It began with nailing a list to a church door of 99 things it was against. Look at what it eventually became.” No doubt our discussions on these things will continue as we labor, minister, and plow through to whatever transformation is coming. However the words of Christ echo repeatedly in my mind and they bear repeating for any person or faith community who thinks “business as usual” is just fine or who thinks that trying things they’ve before or tried elsewhere will save them. Regarding such situations, I think Christ’s words of, “Let the dead bury the dead,” may be their fate. Church as we have known it is passing away. Church will transform and become a new creation and “no one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back” will be fit for the work that needs doing in proclaiming the Kingdom of God – a kingdom that is coming and here already if we can but open our hearts and extend the generosity of resources, both individually and collectively.
Since the time of moving on from the pastorate mentioned above, proclaiming God’s Peaceable Kingdom, and the generosity that encompasses it, has expanded from one metro area to 13 states in the western USA and nearly 100 countries due to where this blog reaches. What I can say of the experiences I’ve had in that time? First is that I must no longer “soften” the kingdom proclamation nor make it “palatable”. Lastly, I will no longer “look back” wistfully nor wish that I could return to some period in the past. Neither will I limit what it takes to live more modestly and respectfully in relation to the Earth and my brothers and sisters around the world.
One thing that feels good about such efforts is how my wife and I have decided that our faith walk necessitates the smallest home we can possibly manage. And what we’ve discovered, at least for now, is that downsizing means going from nearly 2500 square feet of living space to about 1100 square feet. Our realtor asked, “What will you do with all your stuff?” We told her we would sell, donate, or recycle all we can. Main thing is that we want to live as modestly as possible so our generosity can increase toward the Earth and others for the sake of God’s Peaceable Kingdom. We’re ready to put hand to plow and not look back.
What about you? Are you ready to put hand to plow and not look back? What are you ready to give up so your generosity toward Kingdom-building can increase? A new spirituality is about to envelop us. It will be one not tainted by ego, or power needs, or the inability to face down the evil of situations or circumstances that exist primarily to serve themselves rather than help humanity heal and reconcile. As Jesus said, "Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head." Can you be content with having less so others may have more? Dream for a moment about the life of a nomadic Peaceable Kingdom builder then drop me a line and say what that dream looks like for you. Where would you go? What would you do? Whom would you help? What generosities would you extend?
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