What has to die?

"What needs to die in your church?  Because you know what God does with death?  He makes an empty tomb out of it."

Those are the words spoken by Pastor Jay Gamelin to us at the Southeastern PA Synod Assembly a couple weekends ago.  They've been haunting me ever since.

What has to die?  

Yikes!

These words have both huge corporate, and also individual, implications.  Corporate because as I've said already, community is key in the building up not just of our faith, but of God's kingdom.  Despite our tendency toward "rugged individualism," it is in our communities of faith that we get the strength, companionship, and sustenance we need to build up the kingdom.

But the reality is that all of us begin that first step on an individual level, and while it is often easy to say "Oh, yeah...I can tell you for sure what needs to die in my (our) church for it to thrive," it is sometimes harder to wrestle with what needs to die in ourselves.

What needs to die in me...because you know what God does with death?  He makes an empty tomb of it.

Am I ready for an empty tomb?

That's the part that's been haunting me.  In order to have an empty tomb - in order to have resurrection - you first have to have death.  And there are a whole lot of things I cling to - not wanting to kill or to let die - that are keeping me from resurrection.  And while Jay Gamelin offered some convincing arguments to me about the things that need to die in our churches before they can become truly vibrant again, I realize that until I answer that question for myself, any change I offer or want to make in the church - be it St. Paul's or the wider, corporate church - will ring hollow.  

Because truth be told, there are some big things that need to die in me in order for God to bring about resurrection.

Funnily enough, Jesus knew what those things were in us that need to die:  judgment; rigid dogmatic adherence to the law; rabid self-interest.  "No one puts new wine into old wineskins," Jesus said.  We are a new creation, said Paul.  

God is all about making things new.  Not just at some pre-appointed time in the future.  But now.

New birth happens now.

I won't go into a laundry list of all the things that need to die in me (I trust you believe there are plenty!), but I will share one: time wasters and procrastination.  When I'm feeling overwhelmed or stressed, I tend to waste time on the computer doing really nothing of much meaning.  (Rather than, say, updating my blog...)  There are some games and websites that I need to "put to death" in order to focus more on the new creation God's trying to work in me.  (sorry, backgammon...)

Ultimately however, the new birth in me is meant not just for me but for the rest of the community.  And that's where Jay Gamelin's words serve us well in the church.  Yes, God is trying to bring about individual changes in us - new birth to enrich our lives and make us free.  But that enrichment and freedom is meant to be shared.  And in the church, that means it's meant to be shared first and foremost with those who aren't yet feeling the blessings of new life.  God doesn't bless us with new life just to feel self-satisfied.  God blesses us to be a blessing to others.

There are plenty of others out there who need our blessings.  What has to die in us, and in our churches, in order for them to receive those blessings?