Family
reunions are a lot of fun. There is always lots of food. The matriarchs and
patriarchs receive a lot of love and attention. New spouses are recognized and
praised. New babies are passed around and spoiled by aunts and uncles. Old
stories are told and retold. New stories are added and future plans shared. The
past is rehearsed for the new generations, and future plans are shared by the
next for the joy of the previous.
Family
reunions, though always honoring and respecting the individuals and their
legacies, focus just as much if not more on the future of the family as on its
past. They are a time of sharing and learning what others had to face in
earlier generations and from those lessons prepare for a more successful future
by rising generations.
Church
reunions are often called homecomings. They celebrate the founding of the local
family of faith. They note great milestones in the history of the church.
Eldest members and those holding the longest membership are often feted. And,
yes, there is always lots of food.
During the
worship service there may be a reading of a summary of the church history.
Individual members may give testimonies of how the church family was there for
them during particular crises. There may be a recounting of the sacrifices made
by those earlier generations to insure a church would remain for future
generations.
How is the
future celebrated in these church family homecomings? One church of which I
have read uses their annual homecoming to recommit themselves to the future by
reading as a church body the original mission statement of their congregation.
They remind themselves of what the founding members declared as their vision
and then commit themselves to work to remain faithful to that mission statement
in the future.
To make such
a commitment to the future, however, demands honest evaluation of how things
have progressed up to the present. How has the context changed? How have the
needs changed? It may be the activity of the congregation must change because
the setting has changed. The mission may remain the same, but the process of
fulfilling the mission may need to look a lot different. As in the family
reunion, the younger generations can learn from the older, but they cannot be
restricted to the decisions made by their elders.
This takes
wisdom, divine wisdom, and a lot of bold courage. A church homecoming service
may need to be an annual time for the congregation to look at itself and ask
some hard questions. Are we focused more on preserving the past or preparing
for the future? Are we striving to be faithful to the vision of our ancestors
or striving to be faithful to God’s call to be salt and light in our community?
Jesus
offered a short parable to illustrate the need to use wisdom as we prepare for
the future.
Mat 13:52 So he replied, "This means, then, that every teacher of
the Law who becomes a disciple in the Kingdom of heaven is like a homeowner who
takes new and old things out of his storage room."
Homecomings
for a family of faith are ideal times for the membership to “take new and old
things” out of their cabinets of preservation and decide if these items support
the vision of their church in its effort to fulfill its divine calling. The
Church is in the business of storming the gates of hell and calling sinners to
repentance. It is not in the business of preserving the dreams of other people,
the trophies of other generations, or making idols out of ancient saints dead
and gone. Respect is one thing. We must learn and use what we have learned. We
cannot, however, allow respect to become idolatry or a set of chains that would
hold us back from the future to which God calls us.
