“Do not let anyone condemn you...”: a sermon (Colossians 2:6–19)

It’s a very hard time these days to be a member of a mainstream church, such as the Uniting Church, or the Anglican Church, or the Catholic Church.  If you don’t believe me, just read any newspaper:

On the one hand, whenever a church – any church - takes a broadly traditional stand on any ethical issue in the community, they’ll say we’re just “out of touch”.

But then, on the other hand, whenever a church – any church - takes a broadly progressive stand on any ethical issue in the community, they’ll say we’re just being “politically correct”.

And then, again. if a church – any church - thoroughly researches yet another issue and develops a thoughtful, balanced, carefully-nuanced, difficult-to-stereotype response to the issue, the story gets buried on page thirty-eight.  (That’s if it gets published at all.)

If, however, a minister or priest misbehaves in some way (sexually, financially or in any other way), it’s splashed all over the front page.  (And in this, I think we should all recognise that the Catholics are copping it far worse than other churches.  When a Catholic priest gets into trouble, it usually gets a lot more media attention than it does when clergy of other churches misbehave.  When clergy of other denominations misbehave, they are not seen as being "typical" of their colleagues, as is often the assumption with Catholic priests.  Catholic-bashing has always been a popular media game in the English-speaking world, but these days it’s getting worse.)  

The good community work of many congregations and church agencies – of all denominations - is rarely mentioned at all. 

Occasionally, the papers report disturbing statistics about the institutional decline of mainstream denominations.  These statistics are often accompanied by gloating comments from adherents of the more intensely “religious” sorts of churches.

Mainstream churches like ourselves are frequently criticised, mocked, and even condemned by many people.  And we get it from two different quarters.

• Some are people who are uncomfortable with any sort of religious faith, who prefer to mock what they cannot understand.
• Others are people with a very intense style of Christian faith, who despise us for being much less intense in our faith, and much less willing to condemn the beliefs and behaviours that they would condemn.

It causes a crisis of confidence for many mainstream churches.

And this crisis of confidence for the future of mainstream churches also signifies a growing problem for our society in future years.  If you look at the active, participating members of mainstream churches; particularly Uniting, Anglican, and Catholic (Lutheran in some parts of the country); these are the people who are disproportionately active in community organisations in most communities around Australia. 

As a result, if it’s hard times for the mainstream churches, it will be hard times for many voluntary community organisations around Australia.  Because the people who attend Uniting, Anglican, and Catholic churches are the same people who are the backbone of just about any community organisation you can name.  And there isn’t really anyone else who really is picking up the slack.

• It’s not the people who consciously reject organised religion.  A large percentage of these people are also uninvolved in other community organisations.
• Neither is it the people who are involved in the more intensely “religious” sort of churches.  A large percentage of these are not involved in community groups outside their religious activities.

Neither group is really there in great numbers in voluntary community organisations in most locations, at least not as much as the members of mainstream congregations.

While there are some great community-minded people among members of the other faith communities in Australia (Jews, Muslims, Hindus, and so on), we can’t expect these communities to pick up the slack at the moment.  These groups are still far too small to have an impact on their communities, except in a very few suburbs of capital cities.

For better or worse, if we expect to live in healthy communities, we also need to have healthy mainstream Christian churches, particularly Uniting, Anglican, and Catholic.  It is these churches that provide most of our communities with their supply of community-minded people. 

And so, the disturbing statistics that the papers report regarding the future of mainstream churches have equally disturbing implications for the health of our commnuities:

• Fewer Catholics attending Mass may also mean fewer volunteers for Meals on Wheels.
• Fewer Anglican communicants may have negative implications for local branches of the CWA, Rotary, or Lions.
• Reduced membership in Uniting Church congregations may also mean reduced volunteers for hospital auxiliaries.

So when churches like ourselves are mocked or even condemned in the public sphere, it’s not just an affront to our dignity, it is a potential threat to the quality of the life of our wider communities.

In our lesson, Paul wrote words of encouragement to a local congregation in a city called Colossae.  Some people (probably a few different groups) were troubling the Colossian Christians, saying things like:  “Are you sure you’re ‘religious enough’? ... Are you sure that the faith you have embraced is ‘good enough’?  We’ve got all sorts of difficult rules and regulations so you can be sure ... so you can be definite ... that you’re ‘religious enough’.” 

In this situation, Paul wrote words of encouragement to the Colossian church, words of great energy and passion. 

... Therefore do not let anyone condemn you in matters of food and drink or of observing festivals, new moons and sabbaths. ...

... Do not let anyone disqualify you, insisting on self-abasement ...

It was obvious that Paul was angry with those who were piling up requirement upon requirement to the worshippers at Colossae.

There are plenty of people who mock and even condemn congregations like ourselves:

• Some are people who are uncomfortable with any sort of religious faith, who prefer to mock what they cannot understand.
• Others are people with a very intense style of Christian faith, who despise us for being much less intense in our faith, and much less willing to condemn the beliefs and behaviours that they would condemn.  (Perhaps, if they lived two thousand years ago, they would also have mistrusted Jesus for his unwillingness to condemn others.)

For mainstream churches today, we need to hear Paul’s words of encouragement to the Colossian church.  They are also words of encouragement to churches like ourselves, when we are simultaneously subjected to mockery from the broader community and condemnation from the more intense sort of churches.

Do not let anyone condemn you ...

Do not let anyone disqualify you ...

Paul’s words are words of encouragement for churches like ourselves today. 

Be encouraged!  Hang in there!  “Do not let anyone condemn you ...”.