For fourteen years, while teaching fulltime, I served as the part-time pastor of a small Episcopal church in rural, northwestern Connecticut. We had an attractive, white colonial building, which would adorn any Christmas card. The inside was also white, colored by phases of the sun shining through stained glass windows. It was perfect for all kinds of Services. (St. Paul's, Bantam, CT, pictured below)
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Now and then, someone would drop by hoping to rent me and the building for a baptism or wedding. They usually felt that they were entitled to church services on an "as needed" basis. For them, the Church is a charitable public utility that anyone could turn on and off at will, or like a convenience store where an item can be purchased quickly. Most clergy realize that such overtures might provide an opportunity to invite normally apathetic consumers of religious rituals to genuine participation in the Christian Faith and community. It was my experience that most shoppers wanted no such invitation, not even an explanation of the words they would be using in a Service. They just wanted to get the job done with enough God-talk to make everybody feel good and proper. They were always disappointed with me, and sometimes angry, when it became clear that their shopping expedition would have to continue elsewhere.
It was very different when a regular worshiper needed a baptism or wedding! These were occasions of genuine joy for us all. I recall the last wedding at which I officiated - in 1987. I had arrived at Saint Paul's when Alec was about 14. He was an acolyte, later a lay reader, a participant in the Young People's Fellowship, less around while he was in college, but - along with his family - one of many committed parishioners. His fiancée, Doris, had been Roman Catholic, and, after her preparation, she was received into the Episcopal Church as a faithful adult. Their Valentine's Day wedding, a healthy commitment that continues to this day, now with their own sons, was ideal in every way.
Committed Christian people are those who voluntarily promise with heart and mind to participate regularly in the life of a congregation, if a healthy one is available to them. While committed folks trust such a church, they do not stand idly by and take it for granted. Loyal people are like cells of a body; they are necessary to the vitality of the parish community. As their circumstances permit, they live out their commitments through worship, teaching and learning, along with giving and receiving care; they support their congregation, and they carry a ministry of loving presence into their homes, places of work, and leisure. To be sure, there are various levels and styles of commitment, but a healthy faithfulness permeates them all. In addition, committed, balanced people have the ability to say "no" to their involvements with their church, but on an ongoing basis with wise limit-setting, they prefer to say "yes."
I did not have any religious addicts in that parish, and to cut short any speculation about my words tonight, I do not know of any "religion junkies" here at Saint Andrew's. Religious addiction is a spiritual sickness exhibiting a compulsion for, or excessive devotion to, anything that appears to be religious; it may focus on a denomination, a particular ritual, or even a local church. Such an illness is characterized by an out-of-control relationship with the religious object, whereby the addict's freedom to say "no" has become shackled and imprisoned. The junkie may or may not realize some of the negative effects on his/her life, but a decision toward healing seems all but impossible - especially if the available camaraderie includes other reinforcing addicts. Such extreme dependence may be present within local congregations led by clergy who themselves are unwell at one or more levels; they encourage individuals with little self-worth to devote themselves primarily, sometimes exclusively, to the church. And, typically, the lay or ordained addict can never get enough religious activity. Their needs are insatiable, and (s)he always wants additional involvements; there is virtually no limit setting. Moreover, the addict idolatrously worships the interactions with fellow addicts plus the results of their efforts. 1
I have mentioned the supposedly entitled, apathetic people who use the church as a public utility or convenience store. I have spoken about those individuals who have healthy commitments, and, those who are religious addicts. Which of these three types is an example of the reading we heard tonight? (See below.) Which type resonates with Jesus' words in the Gospel of John, "This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you"?
Disengaged, apathetic people miss out on this reality of love in a church fellowship. Addicts experience a parasitic, fanatical clinging, which is not love. Without doubt, Jesus' words point to the experience of Christian love as "affectionate equal regard" within some level of community. Gathered anywhere, a "people of God" is an oasis of love that his Way exemplified. A healthy commitment is basic to a loving community, large or small.
It is possible that for various periods in our lives you and I might slip into either apathy or excessive attachment. Even so, Jesus' words are always on hand to guide us to realign and balance our lives gracefully with the love of God, neighbor, and self. His spiritual direction provides an antidote to religious deprivation or overindulgence. What's more, we might feel called to convey his liberating words, in some prudent form of ministry, to those known to us who are spiritually apathetic or addicted. I am convinced that his Good News of mutual love bears frequent repeating both outside and within the Church.
John 15:9-17
Jesus said to his disciples, "As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you; abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in his love. I have said these things to you so that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be complete.
"This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. No one has greater love than this, to lay down one's life for one's friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you. I do not call you servants any longer, because the servant does not know what the master is doing; but I have called you friends, because I have made known to you everything that I have heard from my Father. You did not choose me but I chose you. And I appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask him in my name. I am giving you these commands so that you may love one another."
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1These matters are explored in detail in a 1991 book entitled TOXIC FAITH, which few ordained and lay church participants read, but all should! (See the outline of the book in the "Constructive Criticisms …" subsite.) See also, "Is The Church an Ad-dictive Organization?" at http://www.religion-online.org/cgi-bin/relsearchd.dll/showarticle?item_id=751 . These matters are explored in detail in a 1991 book entitled TOXIC FAITH, which few ordained and lay church participants read, but all should! (See the outline of the book in the “Constructive Criticisms …” subsite.) See also, “Is The Church an Addictive Organization?” at http://www.religion-online.org/cgi-bin/relsearchd.dll/showarticle?item_id=751 . In addition, see “Addiction, Meaning of” in the ALL HANDOUTS subsite.