Lighthouses

Our rallying cry at church lately has been, "We need to be a lighthouse, not a clubhouse." The meaning of this is simple: we need to be focused on bringing people in, not excluding people who don't meet certain "church club" standards. Like many evangelical churches, our congregation is filled with mainline refugees: Catholics, Episcopals, Lutherans, and the rest. Evangelical churches often promote themselves as a place for those who are tired of "traditional" church, feel stifled by it, or find it to be utterly irrelevant to their lives. To be relevant, evangelical churches seek to create a church environment that, at its best, supercedes the other offerings of daily American consumer life (see my post "WOW!" below).

I believe in the "lighthouse" mantra. Clearly, Matthew 5: 14-16 is behind this: "You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before people, that they may see you good deeds and praise your Father in heaven." A church that is focused on servanthood--doing good deeds--will be a lighthouse for the world. A church that hoards its light--under a bowl--is like a dog in manger.

But is it so simple, so cut-and-dried: lighthouse, not a clubhouse? I am opposed to pregnant "us-them" language, but when I read the Bible I hear, again and again, that there are God's people, and there are those who are not. While some take this and attempt make clear boundaries as to who's in and who's out, I refuse to go that far because it is not my job to judge. Thankfully, that task is firmly in the hands of Jesus. As Christians, we're called to explore what it means to be God's people. We're all on different points of that journey, and we best travel with companions.

Companionship is not limited to the living. We have two thousand years' worth of witnesses to the path of Jesus. What an unbelievable, unfathomable treasure! When you become a Christian, you join this group, which is a society that is different. "Club" is too limited a word. Ekklesia is better. To be a part of that society, there are no prerequisites, but there is initiation: baptism. You have now entered a society that teaches that life is found in self-death, that strength is found in weakness, that beauty exists because its Creator, not the taste of others. Identity is not found in self-help but in serving others in the name of Jesus. And through all this, the light of Christ shines and illumines the world.

In sum, to be a lighthouse means to gather around the light. The community of believers--including those in the past and those across the globe--are all gathered around it. It's not a club, but it is a gathering of peculiar people who find their primary identity not in the nation they live in, the color of their skin, or the amount of money in their wallet, but in the living Jesus Christ, who at once embraces and confounds us.