How Can We Reclaim Our Heritage

I saw an article today over at Christdot, where Makoto Fujimura was talked about. Now, I have never heard of Fujimura before today, but the article twining art with the church reminded me of a few things that the church has "lost" and, I feel, become lessened because of that loss.

-Patrons of the arts: I think of what Michaelangelo or DaVinci might have been without church patrons, let alone the Popes of their times. We have some branches of the furniture industry that capitalize on church paraments and the like. I have seen some of Sam Maloof's beauty done into candelabras, altar tables and bench seats for the chancel of a church. Del Rosa even had a very distinguished person who did the lecturn and pulpit along with the kneeling rails. Mr. Jackson provided a wonderful memorial to his wife.

-Social Services: The church used to be responsible for the well-being of the entire community, even the "alien". I think this has been unnecessarily handed over to the government to wash our hands of the grime of daily life in the midst of ministry, and I lament my own poor progress in doing this well, on limited or no funds. At the moment the best I seem able to do is be a clearing house for resources and services to get people out to the appropriate agencies to help them in their need.

-Sanctuary: The church should be a place of safety.This was made all the clearer last night as some of our youth were leaving VBS, only to be confronted by some youth on the street looking to pick a fight, when one of our adult leaders found her way into the mix to keep everyone moving in a calm and respectful manner. To my knowledge, our VBS program this week has headed off at least three fights otherwise booked for the streets. For the particular aspect of sanctuary I admire and respect the folks at Adalberto UMC in Chicago, and pastor Walter Coleman for their stance to shelter Elvira Arrellano, and her son Saul. One might find this even more striking knowing that I am in favor of deporting illegal aliens, though I would do my best to find legitimate reasons to legalize many of those here. I think the church has a responsibility to shelter and care for those who are under attack.

-Sending Ministries: When the church falls away from the reality of spreading the Gospel into the whole world we begin to find "others" who we can send money to in an effort to be a "missionary church". Who are we building up in our local congregations to serve as missionaries in the world, even as basic as raising up pastors for another generation. The UMC has an itinerant system, that almost guarantees you will serve a church other than the one you were raised in, making you a missionary of sorts. But, we need to consider support more than vocal by our "prayers, our presence, our gifts and our service" to aid our missionaries to local church ministries, international ministries, and a variety of other ministries - some of which we may not have considered before as ministries.

If there are other aspects of ministry and the role of the church that you think we have "lost" please add them to the comments.

Thanks,
David