So it was the fourth Sunday of Eastertide, but also my first Sunday of sabbatical. Last night I had it all mapped out, in the morning I would go to one of the "larger" churches in Vancouver and in the afternoon I would attend my friend Pastor Ted Ng's church
Faith Community Christian Church which is a small church (like Grace Van) that meets in the
Granville Chapel building near 43rd and Granville at 3:30p. But also 48 hours ago, I had an idea that I thought could be cool to try out; in my now six years at my gym
Collective Fitness Kitsilano, I have never once been in for a Sunday morning workout. I think the reasons are obvious given my line of work : ). I thought, maybe I could pop in for a 10a workout since there are different folks who go to the gym at that time, most notably our gym owner's fiancee Natalie who coaches classes on Sunday mornings but otherwise works out at another gym. In other words, I never get to see Natalie, though she is an absolute sweetheart and a great coach. So I booked my class on Friday which you can do 46 hours in advance, to reserve your spot; however, here's the thing... if you cancel within 3 hours of the class starting, you get charged a late cancellation fee since it reserves a spot someone else could have used. But then as the weekend carried along, I decided my Sunday morning thing is
always being in a house of worship, plus, I'm a Presbyterian from the old Puritan tradition that was very particular about keeping Sabbath
with particular rigour (remember Eric Little of
Chariots of Fire fame? I guess if you are younger than 45-years old, you probably don't... but he was a devout Scottish Presbyterian Olympic runner from the 1920s who refused to run on the Lord's Day). How could I possibly consider doing anything Sunday morning other than being in a house of worship? Oh silly me. But then something happened at 7:30a this morning... I realized that I was 2.5 hours away from the class I had booked on Friday and forgotten to cancel;... and therefore should I cancel I would be subject to a $15 penalty. I thought, well, I did have what we Presbyterians call a "scruple" when I took my ordination vows back in 1999 in that while I do believe Sundays are the Christian sabbath, Jesus was also the fulfillment of the Sabbath law as He achieved for us an Eternal Sabbath in His death and resurrection (see Hebrews 4);... therefore there is a reason the New Testament writers no longer referred to the Christian day of worship as the Sabbath (not in any way disagreeing that the 4th commandment should be thought of as anything less than universally binding and still in effect today) but the NT writers referred to our day of worship as "the Lord's Day" (Rev. 1:10) instead, a reference to His day of resurrection! also that even every person who is a "strict sabbatarian" must understand that even he, short of being a 7th day worshipper of God,... does not fulfill the 4th commandment in the exact way it was prescribed. Why? Because in the advent of Jesus coming into the world, an epochal shift of momentous ramifications happened. Jesus' life, death and resurrection was so monumental so as to shift the Christian observance of a universal moral law given for human flourishing, i.e. the fourth commandment of the Ten Commandments, from being fulfilled on the 7th day of the week to the 1st day. I guess we might say the Resurrection of Jesus was THAT cosmic and remarkable in scope! Therefore, the offer of "rest" in places like Matthew 11:28ff. must now be thought of in light of the Coming of Christ,... as "redemptive" in Jesus' fufillment of it,... and that there is now grace and joy in the accomplishment of Jesus at the Cross and in His resurrection. We "keep Sabbath" as a joy, rather than out of a slavish obedience (not that the Israelite of Old was to have done so any less so,... but WE have the gift of the Spirit given at Pentecost as well as well as the realized promise of the new covenant being now written on our hearts, i.e. Jeremiah 31). But here's the thing... there was also a cultural factor in play this morning... one might say an "Asian gene" in me that kicked in...so I admit it,... I'm "cheap" and did not want to be penalized $15 for a late cancellation. (Does anyone here see how exhausting it is to have the mind of a theologian?) So I decided to go to my first Sunday morning workout
ever at my gym... and it was a delight seeing Natalie and a few new (and old faces) in the gym... I shared I was on a sabbatical and that I was able to enjoy my first Sunday morning class
ever with all of them. It was a terrific morning.
But then... the true joy of my day came,... worshipping with the
Faith Community Christian Church community that met at 3:30p. "F3C" (as they call themselves) does not own a church building so they meet in the afternoons in
Granville Chapel. They were planted sixteen years ago with Pastor Ted as their Lead Pastor and have been a faithful presence of our Lord ever since. I love the power of small church communities in our city like F3C and like Grace Van. I saw a few folks that I knew, met Ted's wife Eudora and two of their adult kids, but really the highlight of the morning for me was Ted's message, ironically enough, on why it is important to gather together on the Lord's Day. The text of Scripture was from Hebrews 10:19-25:
Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh,and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works,not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.
In the message, Ted shared some research he had discovered regarding the reasons people "skip" Sunday worship vs. "attend" Sunday worship in metro Vancouver. Ted shared this slide:
To summarize the slide, especially if you are getting "old eyes' like I am, Ted stated that of the 2.6 million people in Metro Vancouver, 33% state that they are "Christian." Of those who state that they are "Christian," 15% say that they "put into practice" in some shape or form their Christian faith, pray, meditate, do some sort of proactive engagement with their faith, etc. But then here was the riveting statistic, of those who say they are Christian, only 1.5% attend church weekly. Pause.... Inhale.... Exhale.... Pause again.... Inhale again.... Exhale again.... Slow your breathing now.... Namaste.
What this means is that if you claim to be a Christian and live in Metro Vancouver and attend a church community weekly,... you are a rare bird. You are an outlier.... a weirdo (OK, I take that back,... that's just mean 😅). But forget about going to a 10a group class on Sunday morning at the gym, being an odd feeling,... something that 98.5% of "Christians" in our city know NOTHING about whatsoever,... the odd feeling is setting foot inside a church building on Sunday morning, for 98.5% of those who profess to be Christians in Metro Vancouver (who themselves are only 33% of the 2.6 million people in Metro Vancouver). By the way, did you know Grace Van people that city by-laws are set up so that there is NO religious zoning in False Creek South where our church is located? Can you think of ONE church community that owns property north of us between Burrard and Cambie? We might be the only one in False Creek South- I would be delighted if I was wrong here. But this is the shape of our city and in particular, our part of the city. We somehow hit the lottery when we were able to purchase our small property back in 1999 from an old Jehovah's Witness Hall (way to go John Smed!)
So the part that got even more interesting was when Ted explained why those who claim to be Christian skip church vs. attend church. Let's start with SKIP
Greater Affluence
Kids' Activities
Blended Families
Individualism & Disengagement
Can't Find a Church that Fits
The affluence piece has to do with those who have more wealth and spend the weekend say "up in Whistler" enjoy the additional resources and benefits to be able to enjoy what those added resources bring. Wealth brings more opportunities for leisure and travel, but not necessarily deep meaningful connection (with God or with human community). Kids' activities such as youth sports is fairly obvious. Blended families has to do with parents who are no longer together and "share the kids," sometimes the believing parent not having the kids over certain weekends. The 4th category is the one I probably challenge Grace Van to the most often,... to recognize that the ways in which we isolate ourselves and keep ourselves from the weekly rhythms of community life,... something we need to recognize is deep within the cultural messages we are taught, to quote from Jamie Smith, "cultural liturgies" (think social media here) that keep us "pursuing our dreams" and not so much being our "brother's and sister's keepers." And then Ted challenged his congregation for those who fit the 5th category, have a hard time "Finding a Church that Fits." "What is our role?" Ted asked his congregation,... "if you see someone you don't know or is new, someone who might need a greeting or embrace,... do you walk up to them and engage them with the warmth of Christ?" Ted challenged his congregation that at the heart of the Gospel is "allowing strangers to become friends" (Hebrews 13:2)... do you do this every week if someone who is looking for "a church that fits" steps into the doors of this congregation?
As I want to challenge our Grace Van congregation with a phrase I've said many times over the last decade,... while I am away make sure you,... Put on Your People Eyes!
Greet the newcomer in our midst, step away from your friends and your self-consciousness, give it to God and step out in faith and meet someone new,... if you are feeling awkward about the whole thing and you've at least been at Grace Van for a few weeks, months or years, how do you think they are feeling? Yet they are there, looking for something! A few weeks back, I saw a new face at Grace Van when I was giving a sermon, and I so badly wanted to meet this woman, but a few Grace Van regulars engaged me in conversation following the benediction (which you know I love, however...) by the time I was able to try and talk to this woman who I didn't get a sense was greeted by many of our folks (often we do a good job with greeting newcomers, but on this occasion, we might have dropped the ball), I reached her as she was walking out the front door,... and I shouted from about 10 feet away, "thank you for joining us in worship this morning" and then ran up to her to shake her hand... she turned around at the door, only for me to see that she had tears in her eyes, and then she walked out of the building. I didn't see her back to Grace Van the last 3 Sundays I was there since that moment. To be honest, I don't know what her tears were about,... whether they were happy tears, sad tears or angry tears? I don't really know. Maybe she was super-happy I went out of my way to "chase her down" and greet her? Maybe she was sad or angry that she hadn't been greeted by more people? I don't really know, but wouldn't it have been great for someone that morning to have gotten a bit of this woman's story? WHAT DID THOSE TEARS MEAN? The staff and even a few outgoing folks at Grace Van cannot greet everyone; my last Sunday April 30th before sabbatical, I felt we had a pretty packed out service, with many new faces. We need the WHOLE BODY OF CHRIST,... all hands on deck to do the outreach. "Put on Your People Eyes!" as I'm convinced there will be opportunities as Ted would say in his sermon, "to allow strangers to become our friends." But we have to put on our People Eyes and we have to engage in those sometimes awkward and uncomfortable spaces. Put on Your People Eyes!
Oh yeah, I said there were also reasons for why people ATTEND church. Here they are:
Personal Spirituality
Family Spiritual Development
Value Relationships
Desire to Share the Gospel
I loved those reasons that Ted discovered in his research for why the 1.5% among professing Christians come to worship weekly and how others might become a part of seeing that percentage grow in Metro Vancouver among those who profess to know Christ as well as bring those who have never known Christ into that blessed weekly rhythm of being with God's people every Lord's Day. Ephesians 2:12 says that we were all once "strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world." But then in the verses that follow, we are told that we were brought near into the peace of Christ, by His blood. Will you be an active part of inviting others into this great promise of Divine inclusion, by "Putting on Your People Eyes" every Sunday at Grace Van and then every day of the rest of the week as well?
I had a beautiful day of worship from morning until evening today, even now as I conclude this post. I was able to spend an additional hour at Ted's beautiful small church following the service saying hello to his family as well as other members of his congregation- I loved every minute of it. I pray you were able to enjoy this day of worship as much as I did, even if I didn't get to see you and hope you were able as Hebrews 10:25 challenges us to do, "stir others up to love and good works, not neglecting the meeting together, i.e. 'the Assembly'... but to encourage one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near." Blessings to you dear friends. I finish with a quotation Ted gave in his sermon today, from Mother Teresa:
"People who love each other fully are truly the happiest people in the world. They may have little, they may have nothing, but they are happy people. Everything depends on how we love one another." (see John 13:35)
