It is not unusual for us to debate the best ways to “do church.” All churches want to succeed (by that we usually mean grow numerically). The thinking is that we need to adopt the style of worship and church life that will be the most attractive to the most people, particularly to young people. The problem is that conventional wisdom is so often so very far behind the times (or maybe not far enough behind the times).

This was brought home to me by two recent happenings. The first was an invitation by Valerie Welsh to attend her service of baptism at a house church. It was a very meaningful service. Valerie and Andy first came to attend the house church by a friend who described it as “more like a 12 step meeting than a traditional church.” So it was. The baptism service was a joint meeting of several house churches. There was scarcely a person older than aged 29 in attendance. There was a lot of beautiful singing but nary a guitar, drum, or any other musical instrument. I found the service to be extremely meaningful. This way of “doing church” was the exact opposite of the megachurch model.

The second thing that brought this home to me was an article in the current issue of Newsweek, “Vienna’s Newest Boy Band.” The “boy band” in question is not on the model of the Jonas Brothers or the Backstreet Boys but is instead the Monks of Stift Heiligenkreuz who live in a 12th century monastery. Their album of Gregorian chants is now number 7 on the pop charts in Britain. Their CD is not yet available in the United States, but it made its way to the top spot on the U.S. classical chart last week due to downloading on iTunes (watch & listen to them on YouTube). The article pointed out: “Gregorian chant is popular among young people because ‘there's a big harmony with those melodies.’ The article noted that the modern soundtrack for the futuristic, science fiction game, “Halo,” which is popular among teenage males is modeled after Gregorian chant.

What is the lesson we are to take away from this? I think that the main lesson is that there is no one right way “to do church.” Worship and church can take many forms. We certainly should not become slavish to the latest fad. As one writer puts it: “I would rather belong to a Church that is 500 years behind the times and sublimely indifferent to change, than I would to a Church that is five minutes behind the times, huffing and puffing to catch up.”

The form of church and worship should always be secondary to the experience of church and worship. As Jesus said, “...every scribe instructed concerning the kingdom of heaven is like a householder who brings out of his treasure things new and old.” (Matthew 13:52)


©2008 C. David Hess

Tuesday of last week I was giving a devotional to our mission team members at the Caribbean Theological Center in Limon, Costa Rica. Immediately after the devotion concluded, the bells in the tower of the Catholic church located a few blocks away began to ring. I jokingly remarked that the Catholics of Costa Rica were welcoming our Baptist mission team. Of course, it didn’t take us long to figure out the true significance of the ringing of the bells. They were signaling that a new pope had just been elected. We shortly discovered that the new pope was Joseph Ratzinger of Germany.

I cannot begin to imagine what it must feel like to become the leader of a church of 1.1 billion members. Of course, Pope Benedict XVI is the first to acknowledge that the Roman Catholic Church may be on the verge of a radical downsizing. In an interview published in 1996, then Cardinal Ratzinger said, “We might have to part with the notion of a popular Church. It is possible that we are on the verge of a new era in the history of the Church, perhaps very different from those we have faced in the past, when Christianity will resemble the mustard seed [Matthew 13:31], that is, will continue only in the form of small and seemingly insignificant groups, which yet will oppose evil with all their strength and bring Good into this world.” Indeed, he added, “Christianity might diminish into a barely discernible presence.”

Newsweek reports, “Benedict XVI...is convinced that the power of the church lies in the strength of its ideas, not necessarily in its numbers: what he calls ‘the firmly believed truth’ of its central tenets about the revelation of Jesus Christ.”

I am sure that there is much that I and the new pope would disagree about, but I agree heartily with this sentiment. Indeed, the devotion that I gave on that morning in Costa Rica was on those words of Jesus comparing the Kingdom of God to the mustard seed. The power of the Kingdom of God does not lie in numbers or size. The Kingdom of God began with Jesus and a small band of disciples, about the size of our mission team in Costa Rica. As long as we remain true to the central message of the Gospel, size will take care of itself. The mustard seed will ultimately grow until “it becomes a tree, so that birds come and make their nests in its branches.” This may be 1.1 billion birds or whatever number God wills.

©2005 C. David Hess

We all want to know what’s going on in the world and what it means. Related to this is the very important question of where you get your news. It does make a difference. Even though all news media profess to be objective they do have their biases. Sometimes the bias is toward the political left or right. Perhaps even more often the bias is toward what will increase the number of viewers or readers

Those who watch Fox News get a different slant on things from those who read the New York Times. Viewers of the Arab TV network, Al-Jazeera get yet another take on world events. During the Iraq war, Al-Jazeera focused more on dead and wounded Iraqi children and less on the statue of Saddam Hussein being toppled than did the American news media.

Where do you get the news? Where do you get your information on important events and what they mean?

Thirty years ago I read a sermon by David H. C. Read entitled, “News from Another Network.” I don’t remember much about the sermon other than the title, but the title says it all. We Christians are those who get our news from “another network”, or at least we should.

When one reads the Bible it is immediately clear that it contains a different sort of reporting. Many of its events would not be reported in modern media, except perhaps for the National Enquirer. It is certainly true too that the biblical writers had a different slant on world events than did the rest of the world. While the rest of the world focused on events in Rome and Jerusalem, the gospel writers focused on some small towns in Galilee like Bethlehem and Nazareth. While the rest of the world was talking about Caesar Augustus and Herod, the gospel writers were talking about the girl Mary and the carpenter Joseph. While the rest of the world was focused on the powerful and the popular and the rich and the famous, Jesus said the blessed of the earth were the poor, the meek, those who mourn, the persecuted, and those who hunger to see right prevail. There is definitely a different slant on things here, or as the Bible puts it: “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways, says the LORD.” (Isaiah 55:8)

Those of us who are “in the world” but not “of the world” should be listening to another network. Things are not always as they seem to worldly eyes.

©2003 C. David Hess

I am writing these words on a warm sunny, April day, remembering the cold, icy days with which April began. I, like many in the Rochester area, spent several days without electricity (three to be exact). I was semi-prepared for the experience in that I had paid some attention to the forecasts of a possible impending ice storm. I had gone to Wegman’s and stocked up on groceries and some extra batteries for my flashlight. Of course, when the power went off Friday night, it dawned on me too late that I had no idea where my flashlight was. I tried to find it in the dark without success. It then occurred to me that my Palm device would shed enough light to help me search for my flashlight. It worked.

I could cook with my gas stove and use it for a little bit of heat.. I have a gas hot water so I could take hot baths to warm up. I could listen to the radio to catch up on happenings and listen to the Syracuse Final Four basketball game. It allowed me to have some empathy for the people of Baghdad. Of course, I did not have to worry about bombs falling.

The hardest time I had was on Sunday. My hopes were raised when I spotted a repair truck working across the street from the church. I went over and welcomed the repair crew. It was great to see them. They assured me that power would be on shortly for our whole area. Indeed, within twenty minutes power was restored to our church and practically every home in the surrounding area. There were a few exceptions. My house was one of them. Sunday night I could look out the back window of my house and see all the homes in the housing development there with lights burning brightly. My house was cold and dark. The bright warm houses surrounding me only deepened my suffering.

It made me think of the stories I have heard of the torture felt by poor children in other countries looking through restaurant windows watching tourists eat. How hard it is to be on the “outside” viewing the blessings of those on the “inside.” Our world has many of these. I was reminded too of Jesus’ description of those who are to be left in outer darkness at the final judgment. May our sympathies be stirred for all those left out in the dark.

©2003 C. David Hess

This past Sunday we were greeted by a storm bearing icy rain followed by snow. Several churches in our area canceled their services. I received several calls asking if we were going to do the same. I decided that we would hold services for those who could make it. I told everyone who called to use their best judgment.

We were pleasantly surprised that thirty hearty souls did make it. The highway crews did an admirable job keeping the roads clear. People seemed to have the most problems with their own iced over cars and driveways.

Of course, all of us present glowed with pride at our obvious fortitude, righteousness, and faithfulness. I joked that the morning obviously separated the sheep from the goats and revealed those who were really going to heaven. I also allowed that those present could have been there because they knew themselves to be the sinners most in need of grace.

In the midst of our laughter, Leanna Shirley shared with us the comment of Ann Lambert (who is 90 years young), who had called Leanna that morning to ask  her for a ride to church. The people who normally pick her up were unable to make it. Ann remarked, “I know that they are saying on the news that there should be no unnecessary travel, but for me this is necessary.”

What a wonderful comment! I’m sure that Ann’s words represent many of our sentiments. Worship is not an option for us. We could no more live our lives without it than we could without food or oxygen. Indeed, I am amazed that there are those who can go for weeks and even months without it. To live life that way seems stark and bare, not life at all.

I’ll see you in church next Sunday.

P.S. I in no way wish to cast aspersions upon those who were unable to make it to church last Sunday. I, myself, was feeling really cocky about getting around all day that day with little problem only to have my feet fly out from under me on my driveway that evening. I landed flat on my back. I wasn’t injured, but I did have the wind knocked out of me. It just goes to show the truth of the biblical statement: “Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.” (Proverbs 16:18)

©2003 C. David Hess

Hazel Roper, a field minister for the American Baptist Churches of New York State, once told of a scene she witnessed while she was visiting with a church family in the waiting room of a hospital’s Intensive Care Unit. While Hazel was there a 40 year old man in the ICU died of leukemia. He was one of ten children. Hazel and the others heard the man’s sister telephone her relatives and inform them of his death.

After the sister made her last call, one of the church women went to her and embraced her. The sister cried in her arms.

The woman asked, "Do you have a church family?"

The sister answered, "No, but when I was a child I used to go to Sunday School."

The church woman didn’t let the conversation drop but went on to tell her of the importance of having this family beyond your immediate family.

The woman listened and heard.

That story struck a chord with me which resonates to this day. How often I have witnessed the importance of the family beyond family, the importance of the spiritual family, the church family.

I have never witnessed it more powerfully than I have witnessed it in this church. Since I have been here several members of our fellowship have experienced significant health issues and other trials. This family of faith has embraced them in very powerful ways and practical ways—ways that have been greatly appreciated and deeply meaningful. I have often wondered how people can even get along without church, a family beyond family. This sense of family can be found in any size church but never more powerfully than in a small church.

I am reminded of the words published in the newsletter of the Oakland (Calif.) Church of the Brethren:

©2000 C. David Hess

Our Bicentennial Celebration was wonderful! I think we all were rather awed as Dr. James Dunn, Executive Director of the Baptist Joint Committee on Public Affairspointed out that our church--due to its influence on education, missions and theology--has been probably one of the 100 most influential churches in American history.

Dr. Dunn also highlighted one of the most important Baptist distinctives--soul freedom. Baptists have always emphasized that an individual’s most basic responsibility is to God. It is, therefore, a most serious event whenever any individual, government, or church seeks to prohibit someone from following the dictates of their own conscience. As Dunn said, if there is a Baptist creed it is: "Ain’t nobody but Jesus going to tell me what to believe."

Admittedly, there have been those who have wanted a more specific creed. Dunn closed his speech with these words:

...Browning Ware of Austin, Texas put it well.

Knowing answers seduces us into making pronouncements on homosexuality, AIDS, marriage problems, teen-age pregnancies, abortion, sex education or whatever is coming down the pike. But when we get shoved into our valley of the shadow, a pronouncement is the last thing we need.

A friend wrote recently, "I too, get Maalox moments from all who know." I’m discovering that wisdom and adversity replace cocksure ignorance with thoughtful uncertainty.

More important and satisfying than answers is the Answer. "Thou are with me"--that’s what we crave. There may or may not be answers, but the Eternal One would like very much to be our companion. Creed enough.

©1996  C. David Hess

During my vacation I missed church one Sunday. The last time I did so was 26 years ago when I missed because of a case of food poisoning. I’ll spare you the details, but I had a much less worthy excuse for missing worship this time.

I really missed it. The subsequent week was just not the same. I don’t know how it’s possible for some to go months or even years without worship. For me, missing worship meant a more mundane week, less of a sense of the holy, a sense of living in the presence of God.

An article in Leadership Journal pointed to a story in the news not long ago about three whales stranded near Point Barrow, Alaska. They were separated from the open ocean by miles of ice. They had only a small hole in the ice through which to breath. There they floated battered and bloody.

Rescuers started cutting a string of holes in the ice. For eight days they coaxed the whales to go from one hole to the next toward the open ocean. One whale disappeared and was presumed to have died. Finally, with the help of Russian icebreakers, the whales Putu and Siku, made it to freedom.

The writer pointed out: "In a way, worship is a string of breathing holes the Lord provides his people. Battered and bruised in a world frozen over with greed, selfishness, and hatred, we rise for air in church, a place to breathe again, to be loved and encouraged, until that day when the Lord forever shatters the ice cap."

See you in church this Sunday!

©1996 C. David Hess

Our church’s Bicentennial Celebration (the First Baptist Church of Hamilton, NY) has had a wonderful beginning. After our morning service a couple of Sunday’s ago, the Hamilton Fire Department hung our Bicentennial Banner on the front of our building. (When they didn’t show up quite on time we thought about testing our new fire alarm but thought better of the idea).

The children’s pageant, If the Walls Could Talk, was fantastic. Many thanks to our Sunday School Teachers for putting together this production, particular thanks to Laurie Murphy who wrote it.

I think it particularly important that our children began our Bicentennial Celebration. The fact that it was our children presenting it got us thinking not just about our church’s past but our church’s future. Incidentally, the children that took part in the play are probably not our church’s future. Most of them will probably be living in other parts of the country when they are adults. Most of the children who are our church’s future are being raised in other churches in other places. But our children are the future of the Church wherever it exists.

I was struck by the cartoon in the paper last week that depicted little Jessica Dubroff taking off in her plane just before it crashed. The sky was dark and streaked with rain and lightning bolts.

A voice from the control tower said, "Cheyenne Tower. Cessna, you’re cleared for takeoff."

In the plane, Jessica says: "Gosh, Daddy, should I really be taking off in weather like this?"

Her father answers, "I would never try to influence your decision honey—you’re seven years old."

Of course, the point is that the duty of a parent is to influence the decisions of their children when they are seven years old. I am thankful for our parents who are influencing their children to get to know the God who created and redeemed them.

©1996 C. David Hess

A new American Baptist Church in Pensacola, Florida recently was featured in scores of newspapers and on the TV networks. This church has initiated a "Compact-Mini-22 Minute" worship service.

These are the elements of the service: (a) A slave bell from Tennessee tolls and (b) a cross-bearer proceeds unhurriedly to the altar, then an acolyte comes to light the candles. (c) The pastor announces Christ’s presence, (d) invites worshippers for a moment of silent prayer, and then (e) leads them in the Lord’s Prayer. (f) During the processional hymn (two verses only) a man comes to the front holding a Bible high above his head. (g) Scripture is read, and (h) an offering taken. (i) Special music takes only 2 1/2 minutes followed by (j) a six minute sermon. (k) Two verses of an invitational hymn, and (l) a benediction conclude the service.

Of course, I think there are even more possibilities for cuts. The service could be cut to 18 minutes by eliminating the processional and the tolling of the bell, by singing only one verse of each hymn, and by allowing people to give their offerings as they leave the service. The “Amen” on the final hymn could serve as the benediction.

While we are at it, I can think of some other things which will ease our hurried lives. We could eliminate one half of basketball and football games. The game is usually decided in the second half anyway. If they are decided in the first half, why play the second?

Why do baseball games have to be nine innings? Wouldn’t 3 innings make for a much snappier game?

Isn’t The New York Times far too big? Surely the really important news could be summarized in four pages a day.

Of course, if we made all these changes then we would have to decide what to do with all our extra time.

©C. David Hess