The Silver Bullet

I was asked by one of our guest preachers this summer whether we ever sang more contemporary, or modern songs in worship. He said he liked the last hymn we did, but that we were very high church. I didn't quite know what to make of his statement. He later said that he had been asked by some people where to go for a high church Methodist experience, and he didn't know, but now, he said, he knows where to send them. Is this a good or a bad thing?

My first thought was that compared to the church he was coming from, we were certainly more high church, but that's all relative. If you compare what we do to the Anglicans or Catholics, then we are not high church. My second thought was what difference did it make?

Now if we were a congregation in decline, or taking our lasts gasps of air, then I can see where he could be concerned about what we were doing here. But the simple fact is we are a vibrant, growing community, and so should we be concerned that we are "high church"? It seems to meet the demands of the people who are coming. Does it meet everyone's needs? No, and maybe the work that Joel has been doing on worship will help us there. But, to be honest, a church simply cannot meet everyone's needs, nor should it ever try.

In the end, I kind of took his comments as being a critique of what we are doing. The leadership of this conference and the larger church, are looking for the silver bullets, or the one thing, that will solve all of our problems, of which I have written plenty about. And when they come up with an idea that is what they push down everyone's throat, until they find it doesn't work, and then they look for the next great idea. Instead of recognizing that every community and church is different. What works in Sudbury probably would not work in Dorchester, and vice versa, and what works in northern Maine might be totally different as well.

There is no silver bullet. There is no one solution that will change everything for the better, except to offer people the love of Christ, although that is rarely mentioned. Now I have no problem making recommendations for things that are working elsewhere, we actually need to do a lot more of that, but then allow churches to pick and choose what they think will work for their context. And if a church is doing well, don't make suggestions for how they could change, make suggestions for how we can take what we are doing now and make it even better.