“Regarding Fire in the Church”
September 8, 2002
The Rev. Dr. David M. Wendel
Saint Luke’s Lutheran Church, Colorado Springs, Colorado
Lessons: Ezekial 33:7-11; Ps. 119:33-40; Romans 13:8-14; St. Matthew 18:15-20
This past Tuesday morning, the phone by my bedside rang a little after 4:30 a.m., and the caller from Advanced Alarm said the church fire alarm was going off. The fire department had been dispatched and they wanted to know how quickly I could get to the church. I threw on my clothes and drove down Union, holding my breath as I crested the hill at Montebello, and the church finally came into view. What a relief. No smoke billowing out the top of the sanctuary, no visible flames, nothing to indicate it was anything but a false alarm. As it turned out, the sprinkler sensors were malfunctioning, and that sets off the alarm as a warning. Funny how your mind races when you’re on your way to the church, and you think it might be on fire. You think about all the things that won’t happen, because of the tragedy. Childcare might be disrupted. Bible Study was to take place Tuesday morning. Worship would have to be arranged elsewhere. Oh, my mind was racing, let me tell you. And what a joy to find that it was a false alarm, and that our ministry could continue unhindered.
As I went home, in the early dawn of Tuesday morning, my thoughts then turned to the reality of how many churches aren’t spared, tragic fires that disrupt their ministry. And I don’t mean the fires with flames and smoke, to which the fire department responds. Odd that a fire alarm at our church, made me think about what we call, “fires” in congregations. You know the kind I’m talking about—the fires that begin with a little sin, a little disagreement, or difference of opinion, a word spoken harshly, or without forethought. At first, it’s a little spark…but then, this person blows on it, and another person puts in a bit of kindling—something they heard, or saw. Then, the word begins to spread, and its fueled with some juicy gossip, and before you know it, within the congregation, there’s a whole big fire burning that at best, is a distraction and a disruption to ministry, and at worst, threatens to bring the whole church down! One of the most common responses when a pastor asks a colleague what he or she has been doing lately, is, “I’ve been putting out fires!” And every pastor knows what that means. It means you’ve suspended your regular pastoral duties, to try to put out the fires of anger, bitterness, pettiness, and self-centeredness that, if allowed to burn, can flare up and engulf the entire congregation in flames. How unfortunate that in the church, we have to waste valuable time, putting out fires. How tragic, that such fires hinder ministry, and keep us from the mission of Jesus Christ. How sad that in Colorado Springs, right now, there are at least five Lutheran congregations that I know of that are fighting fires, and their ministry is hampered. And how can we, in the church, keep sparks from flaring up, and being fanned into flames?
Jesus is talking about just such a strategy for stopping fires, in the church, before they get started. It seems a little odd that Jesus lays out such a strategy, for the Church, before his death and resurrection; before His ascension and the sending of His Holy Spirit, that would constitute the Church. It seems odd, because, why worry about such things before they’re really an issue? Jesus worried about such things, evidently, because He knew they would be an issue, and because He knew they would be a big issue for the church throughout time. It’s a blessing to the Church that Jesus saw fit to give such instruction to the disciples, and it’s a blessing that St. Matthew saw fit to include it in his gospel, to provide for the Church, from the very beginning, a procedure, a process whereby the Church, and individual Christians could deal with sin, and so disagreements and division in a healthy, straightforward manner before they become a destructive blaze in the body.
Jesus gave us these instructions—if only Christians would heed them! Don’t Christians pay attention to these words of Jesus? Rarely, if ever. The usual way of dealing with problems in the Church is this: we begin by keeping it to ourselves. Either we are ashamed, or embarrassed, or afraid to talk about it, so, at first, we sit and stew about it. We pretend that everything’s normal—while we’re brooding over our perceived injury. This, of course, magnifies it, because what started as a spark, if left unchecked, grows. Sometimes we become sullen and sour and depressed, and cut ourselves off from the alleged perpetrator, almost as a kind of revenge. Eventually, unable to keep it to ourselves, we tell someone else about it—a friend, a confidant, a relative. Sometimes, total strangers are brought into it. We bring them in, not as objective advisors, or spiritual counselors, but as companions who will sympathize with us, affirm our position, and become our supporter. They, of course, tell others, and before long, a ring of fire is ablaze, involving all kinds of people, but rarely, the person who supposedly caused the hurt or offense in the first place. Like it or not, this is how fires in the church usually get started, and continue to grow. Like it or not, this is why so many churches are on fire, and are threatened by sins, and issues and problems that never should have escalated to this point in the first place. Because, Jesus says, there’s another way. There’s a way that has to do with care and compassion, with honesty and integrity, with straightforward communication that aims at healing, rather than inflaming. And what is that way?
Jesus says, “Go to the person and discuss the problem when the two of you are alone.” Jesus says, “If we do so, perhaps the problem can be solved, and the two of you will be reconciled. If not, we should seek the advice and counsel of one or two other wise persons, asking for their help in facing the other. If even then we fail, we go to the community”—Jesus says, to the church. This doesn’t mean, necessarily, the whole church; it doesn’t mean, necessarily that you announce it at an annual meeting…but maybe take it to the pastor and the leaders, because at this point, the goal is to avoid involving the whole church in a divisive issue. You see, the goal is to AVOID, involving the whole church in a divisive issue. The goal is not to avoid the problem, or the person whom you feel has wronged you—the goal is to use honest, straightforward communication, with the smallest number of people possible, to effect a reconciliation—to win back, the member who has been lost to you. The goal is to bring about healing, between the two of you, and within the community of the church. That, Jesus says, is the better way to resolve problems in the church. And why, is it so important to resolve problems in the church? Why is it so important to deal with those little sparks that inevitably fly, when people live in community with each other? Why? So that the mission and ministry of Jesus Christ can continue, unhindered! So that the little spark won’t become a roaring fire that consumes the whole congregation in a fire-fight! So that the energy and the passion and the fire of the congregation won’t be drained, by a conflict! Because the energy, the passion, the fire of a congregation is better directed, not at each other, but at the work Jesus would have us do. The work St. Paul describes for us in our second lesson, when he says, “love one another; love your neighbor as yourself; live honorably, putting on the Lord Jesus Christ, making no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desire.”
The truth is, often, the fires of conflict in a church have nothing to do with doctrine, the Scriptures, the Sacraments, evangelism. Oh, they may be hidden under such things, but more often than not, division in a church has to do with making provision for your own human, fleshly desires—in other words, it has to do with trying to get your own way, because that’s the way you want it! And St. Paul writes, instead, put on the Lord Jesus Christ. Love your neighbor as yourself. Put aside your own wants and desires and agenda. Make the mission and ministry of Jesus your one and only priority. Let people see that where two or three members of your church are gathered in Jesus’ name, that truly, He is there in the midst of you. And one of the ways you do that, is by putting the sparks out, before they become a dangerous fire. You do that by dealing openly and honestly with conflicts and issues, before they become problems. We do that by caring enough for each other, and for the presence of Jesus among us, that we will let nothing, nothing, stand between us, or interfere with the work Jesus has given us to do. Because, if there is a fire in us, we want it to be the fire of the Spirit, inspiring us to spread the Gospel, emboldening us to speak Jesus’ name, warming our community with the love of Jesus, rather than consuming us, and our time, talent and treasure, to no good purpose. This is why Jesus gives us these instructions—and this is why we want to heed them—for our own sake, yes, but even more, for Jesus’ sake, and for the sake of the Gospel. For Jesus’ sake, and for the sake of the Gospel, may we know no fire among us, but the fire of the Holy Spirit, inspiring us, and enlightening us, to do even greater ministry, in His name. Amen!