Sanctuary's Interruption

It has not happened that often but on several occasions during our "welcome and announcements" a member of the congregation has addressed the assembly with more than a date for an event, invitation to join a group, or news on the health of a parishioner.

Some of you will remember the Sunday following the shootings in El Paso and Dayton how two of our men shared their concerns and fears with us.  We prayed for God to help us respond as servants and prayed that prayer attributed to St. Francis.

Lord, make us instruments of your peace. Where there is hatred, let us sow love; where there is injury, pardon; where there is discord, union; where there is doubt, faith; where there is despair, hope; where there is darkness, light; where there is sadness, joy. Grant that we may not so much seek to be consoled as to console; to be understood as to understand; to be loved as to love. For it is in giving that we receive; it is in pardoning that we are pardoned; and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life. Amen. (BCP, page 833)

Just one or two were challenged by that interruption to our routine and remarked later that they weren't ready for that sort of discomfort in church.  Maybe it felt too "political" for them or was too much like the "news."

Praying helped restore some of that feeling we want "church" to have: safe, clear, happy, still.  The big word is sanctuary, It means place of holiness.  We've learned to include safe in that sense because we understand that the strength of God's presence is from where the holiness comes.

Sharing an understanding of sanctuary as not only holy but safe means different things to different people.  For all of us there is that sense of safe as AWAY from outside trouble.  But for a few of us safe means that we can risk even more vulnerability inside with each other.

This past Sunday was another one of those "interruptions." A long-time member shared his epiphany and joy that came from all the words of concern and encouragement he had received since he had shared the news of his cancer.  It was uplifting for all of us.

Again we prayed but this time to thank God for the ministry we had received in Alex's witness to us.  Yes we all want his cancer gone but we also prayed to thank God for how we saw Him in the light and spirit of a beloved member.

So it is sort of a chicken or egg question.  Which comes first holiness or safety?  Every answer is correct by the way. The other thought to consider is the role of interruption in our lives with God.  Johan Metz's "shortest definition" of religion was just that, interruption. (J. B. Metz, Faith in History and Society. Towards a practical fundamental theology, Mainz, 1977, p. 150)

For sure there is more to it, including the work we do between such interruptions.  But work we must and making a way for those interruptions is our calling as a church.