Going Deeper: The Marathon Man and the Church

Unless you are older than say about 40 years you may not have seen a classic drama movie starring a young Dustin Hoffman and Lawrence Olivier. In a famous scene, Olivier, portraying a Nazi war criminal who is attempting to retrieve his diamonds, suspecting any effort to get them from the safety deposit box is a trap and that Hoffman has information about any surveillance, tortures Hoffman by drilling a tooth after a tooth all the while asking him "is it safe?"

Matthew's sermon Sunday (4/11) dealt with the serious need for church to be a place where one knows and is known and ultimately a place where no one stands alone. But for many, the question being asked of Hoffman by Olivier becomes the question to be asked before we can come to the conclusion church is a place where no one stands alone. Is it safe? If church is safe, how did it become that way? If it isn't, how can it be a place where no one stands alone, let alone be a place where Jesus is Lord?

Finding a place of real safety seems so difficult. For the unchurched, church, any church, is a new experience (at least hopefully somewhat different than childhood Sunday School classes – usually less than wonderful memories) with new people and with a new social ethic, and for those who have left a church due to a bad experience at another church, feelings of safety will be under heavy guard.

For much of the last decade, the church has taken a number of blistering attacks, some well founded, as places captive to the consumerist culture of America, or as attractive/entertainment centers, so-called “seeker churches.” Underlying both types of churches may be a works righteousness mentality, that is we need to become sinless or be moving on down (or is it up?) that particular road (as impossible as that is).

Newer forms of “church” are the social justice/activist strands, many of which may be considered as emerging, and missional churches. Much merit seems to be resting with those strands, particularly missional, but at first glance, as youthful forms of church, efforts may need to be directed to prevent them from becoming clubs which means some may not fit in.

Henri Nouwen gives pause for some thought as we consider that question, is it safe, “I wonder more and more if the first thing shouldn’t be to know people by name, to eat and drink with them, to listen to their stories and tell your own and to let them know with words, handshakes and hugs that you do not simply like them, but truly love them.” (Gracias: A Latin American Journal).