Why do I have to go to church?

In my profession, I am always being asked by young university students, "Why do I have to go to church?" The usual justification (or rationalisation) is that they "get nothing out of it!" We don't seem to have been able to get the message out there that, yes, there is something in it for them — bringing them closer to God's transformative presence. But, of course, even that message could be countered by suggesting that one can just as easily be "present" to God in one's bedroom. So I think we need to also stress the other side of the coin, which is how our "gathering" regularly in community makes God's "presence" visible to the world. In our community of faith, we are a "sacrament" — a visible sign and symbol of encounter with God.

It is this thought which keeps me going along to Mass every Sunday, despite its sometimes negative aspects. The priest may not be always on his game; the sermon may be boring, or even irritatingly simplistic; the music and hymns may be dreadful; sometimes even the eucharistic bread is stale and the wine inferior. Still, it all seems worth the effort when I remember what my regular appearance may mean to someone "outside" who sees this motley crew of Christians turning up week in, week out.

The Uniqueness of the Christ-Event…

There is a huge theological issue here that we often overlook. If we truly believe in the Incarnation — God becoming human — than we must accept that no one single denomination or religion per se has the monopoly on God's Word. "The Word was made flesh and dwelt amongst us" and, thus, all humanity bespeaks a message from God. God can speak to us through a Muslim or Buddhist just as easily as through a Catholic or an Anglican. We can find God in a Catholic church, a Jewish Synagogue, a Muslim Mosque, a Hindhu temple, a wild garden, or a beautiful sunset. The concept of Incarnation is that "radical" (in the true sense of the term). Our claim is not that God became Catholic, but that God became human. One can and must find God in one's daily life, whether one is devoted to regular attendance at church, mosque or synagogue.

The ultimate expression of that Divine availability is the "person" of Christ, who is the "primordial sacrament of encounter with God" (Schillebeeckx, 1963). In the "person" of Jesus God's availability is made visible to all humanity.

To speak of the radicality of God's availability as transformative presence is not to say, however, that all religious devotions are equal, or that all moral philosophies have an equal claim to divine inspiration as their source. I would want to adhere to the claim that the Judeo-Christian tradition does represent a singularly significant aspect of God's revelation or self-revelation. But our gift must be shared. We are not called to be smug and insular about this truly wonderful gift — nor self-righteous and judgemental. We are called to mission — to share the knowledge we have by imitating the self-giving of God to the whole of humanity. We are called to service, not worship.

I will probably "draw flame" like Hopkins' dragon flies for this next comment, but it bears repeating. I would argue, and have done in the past, that the Judeo-Christian tradition is not a "religion" as we commonly understand religion. This view has also been strongly advocated by Christian anthropologist, Rene Girard, who sees the Judeo-Christian tradition as a counter-cultural movement that subverts traditional religious systems (see Bailie, 2000).

Judaism emerged from the ancient Near East as a unique community that did not simply offer sacrifices to placate an angry deity or perform senseless rituals that bespoke a "sympathetic magic" intended to manipulate the spiritual and/or divine forces present in nature. After all "the God of the Jews" is an utterly transcendent being that is not available to humanity through human efforts. Indeed, if I were asked to sum up the entire message of the Bible in a few words it would be that — God is transcendent, beyond our grasp, unattached to the created order, but God chooses to be involved with creation and (we Christians would add) God became human in Jesus of Nazareth so as to be available to us.

In its final form Rabbinic Judaism, which was akin to its sister faith Christianity (or perhaps better "Messianic Judaism"), was a faith community that studied God's Word and attempted to put that into practice. When Jews and Christians gather on the Sabbath and on Sunday, respectively, they do so not to worship God but to join in fellowship with each other and with the divine.

Hence we Christians share "communion" with each other and the divine presence (amid the gathering, via the preaching of the Word, and in sharing of the food — Christ is not simply and solely present in the host or chalice). Similarly, the Synagogue is a place of meeting, study and shared reflection, which is joined to the earlier domestic Sabbath meal.

It is in Word, food, and people that we find God and communicate with divine presence — we do not worship, nor do we sacrifice in order to placate God, let alone perform meaningless rituals to magically manipulate fate.

This is what makes Christianity and Judaism so singularly significant.

We "Jews" — either Rabbinic or Messianic — have a very different and unique concept of God whose Word, when lived radically, can change our whole perspective on humanity and the world.

After all, is not our claim that because of Jesus there is no longer any distinctions or boundaries? That goes for Jew and Greek, Slave and Free, Woman and Man, to which I would add with apologies to Paul, Catholic and Anglican, Christian and Buddhist, Magisterial Catholics and Liberal Catholics. And why do I say this? Well, Christians should be people "without boundaries" because of the Incarnation, which broke down all boundaries (and I mean the real biggies) — between the created and the uncreated, spirit and matter, God and human, Jew and Gentile.

So, Why do I have to go to church?

It is at this point that we might speak of the Church. If Jesus is the image or symbol, we say "primordial sacrament" of God's love, then the Church should be the symbol, image or sacrament of Christ's continuing presence in the world.

The Church is a continuation of Christ's ministry, which "makes Jesus present" through public action in prayer, worship, charity and social activism.

In this sense, we do not necessarily speak of the Church as being founded by Jesus or after Jesus. It is a continuation of Jesus' ministry that has its roots in the prophetic, priestly and political ministry of ancient Israel. Christianity is, in all practical and historical terms, a form of Judaism that grew out of the ashes of the destroyed Temple (just as its sister faith, Rabbinic Judaism, did). Jesus died on the cross, rose from the dead, is exalted at God's right hand, but continues via the Spirit in and through the Church that grew out of his ministry. As Cardinal Ratzinger (2005: 118) once said:

"Church does not arise from a loose federation of communities. She originates in the one bread, in the one Lord, and thanks to him she is first and foremost and everywhere the one and only Church, the one body that comes from the one bread. She does not become one through a centralist form of government; instead, one common centre for all is possible because she is always derived from the one Lord, who is in the one bread makes her to be one body. That is why her unity goes deeper than any human union could ever go. It is when the Eucharist is understood in the full intimacy of the union of each individual with the Lord that it automatically becomes also a social sacrament in the highest degree".

Accordingly, Jesus is present in the world by virtue of the Church and we, who claim to be followers of Jesus, cannot simply dispense with the Church or withdraw our allegiance, despite all her inherent problems.

One may say that he or she lives a "good Christian life" without "going to church", by which we usually understand that he or she is claiming to live according to Jesus' moral, charitable and ethical precepts. But can we really reduce Christianity to a system of ethical behaviour? Are not we "Christians" not more importantly and significantly called to be community; by placing our feet under the Eucharistic table each week we make the Church and (by virtue of the sacramental role of the Church) also Jesus "visible" to the world.

It is unfortunate that Catholics don't do community well. I suspect that part of the reason that 85% of baptised Catholics have ceased to fulfil their vocations to be "sacrament" is because they no longer feel welcome or comfortable in the Catholic community. This is a serious problem, not only for them, but for us 15% who have failed to create an environment where everyone can find a place. Jesus' words indict us: "By this shall all people know that you are my disciples — that you love one another" (Jn 13:35).

The quote above from the Fourth Gospel is for me the essence of "who Jesus is for me" — the fullest expression of God's love, mercy and concern for all people as mediated by the Church to which I belong, which remains THE sacrament of Jesus' presence in the world.

One can do charitable work or live a moral life, but separated from the community of faith such a life fails to make Jesus "visible" — the praise and kudos goes only to the person and not to Jesus. But perhaps I am off beam. What do you think? Is the Church indispensable or does it just "get in the way" of our faith-life?

Bibliography and Further Reading:
Bailie, G. (2000) "Violence and the sacred: Rene Girard's insights into Christianity" Aislington Magazine. URL: www.aislingmagazine.com/aislingmagazine/articles/TAM26/R.Girard.html
________ (2000) "Mystery of Sin: Rene Girard's insights into Christianity, part 2".
URL: www.aislingmagazine.com/aislingmagazine/articles/TAM27/Mystery.html
Beguerie, P. & Duchesneau, C. (1991), How to understand the sacraments, translated by J. Bowden & M. Lydamore (London: SCM Press).
Ratzinger, J. (2005), On the way to Jesus Christ Translated M. J. Miller (Ft. Collins, Co: Ignatius Press).
Schillebeeckx, E. (1963), Christ the sacrament of encounter with God (London: Sheed & Ward).

Photo Credits:
"Altar St Luke's" St Luke's on the Lake Episcopal Church, Austin TX (2007)
URL: www.stlukesonthelake.org/images/altarforweb.JPG
"Sunday Mass" Catholic Community University of Toledo. (2007)
URL: www.ccup.org/Images/PHOTO%20Sunday%20Mass.jpg
"Latin Mass" © Mike Peters The News Tribune (2007)
URL: blogmedia.thenewstribune.com/media/users/cheryltucker/mass.jpg

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©2007 Ian Elmer

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