Institutionalism vs. the Body

In most parishes, most members have a deep longing. The desire of their heart is that the parish be conventional, a decently run organization, and a place of safety and security. The hope is that the Rector will preach and lead in a manner that is generally consistent with the norms of this community, be it Seattle, Washington or Jasper, Alabama.  We don’t want to be embarrassed in front of our secular or Baptist friends in the community but we would like to maintain just enough difference to feel special. In some regions, the call will be for more requirements prior to becoming members (not quite “build the wall” but along those lines) while in other regions the ancient practice and modern research that would call for baptism before receiving communion is brushed away (odd that the advocates aren’t asking for open access to making your confession).

The parish will have a few people who would like the club to be run more like a business. If the parish is over 150 years old there are likely to be a few who think of the parish as a religious historical society. Most places have a small group pressing for more “outreach” (an awful word). Sort of a Lions Club with a big heart.

People naturally make the analogy between the Church and other groups with which they are familiar: clubs, corporations, families and so on.  References to "organized religion" or "institutionalized religion" reveal the assumption that the Church is just one more form of human organization.  While the process of making analogies with the club, corporation, etc., is inevitable, it also creates a problem. "People come to the conclusion that the Church is a 'society created by human enterprise and designed to serve particular human ends,' that it is created by the 'agreement of a number of individual persons who presumably define the terms of their association and its goals.' … 'Church means, not corporation and not club, but a collection of people who have been called out together by a voice or a word or a summons which comes to them from outside.' (Richard Norris, Understanding the Faith of the Church, Seabury Press, NY, 1979) From Fill All Things: The Dynamics of Spirituality in the Parish Church, Robert A Gallagher, Ascension Press, 2008

They don’t mind when the priest speaks of the Body of Christ. But they don’t really understand it either. But the funny language is okay, after all we are sort of a religious club.

Most members of any parish see things this way – it is conventional religion, an institutional focus; what one warden in Maine called Episcopal Lite. Martin Thornton called it multitudinism. Thornton went on: “The emphasis is numerical, membership is nominal; which inevitably means convention, respectability, Pelagianism, apathy, and spiritual sterility. The sole pastoral function is ostensibly evangelism which is so frequently reduced to mere 'recruitment'." (Pastoral Theology, p. 14)

There is no avoiding all this. It's 101 organizational psychology.  It is the church culture we live in. And like all cultures we are so used to it we barely notice. Even those with formal theological training. Even priests and bishops. It’s like the air we breathe. We don’t notice it.

Members and leaders always get absorbed into the institutional culture. Always. There’s really no choice. Over time it happens or you are expelled. If it doesn't happen the priest will be unable to be an incarnate presence. 

Here’s the good news

In all of these parishes, in every single one of them, the Holy Spirit is at work. Evelyn Underhill wrote, “In the Fourth Gospel, the strange word ‘Paraclete’ enters the Christian vocabulary as the best available term for this experience of the Spirit of God acting within our lives. Our nearest meaning for ‘Paraclete’ seems to be, ‘One who is called to stand alongside us,’ or stands by us to give us support. So, we are given the marvelous vision of the infinite Divine Charity, Giver of all life, ever standing alongside our small derived spirits in their efforts and struggles.” (The School of Charity). I recall that someplace in Bonhoeffer’s writings he noted how even the most pathetic of parish churches might produce saints as long as the sacraments were offered and the Word preached.

For Thornton, the "vision" that matters is the one toward which all humanity and creation moves -- the vision of God. And how is it that we attain such a vision? Rule, Mass, Office. And good works grounded in Rule, Mass, Office.

Some clergy and lay leaders in reaction to institutionalism have taken on a sect mental model. Some insisting on more piety; others on more activism. The latter is currently the easiest sell in the Episcopal Church. That’s in part because it allows people to maintain the underlying religious club mental model while sounding more religious in a progressive manner -- our task is to create the Kingdom on earth. And for those of us who are clergy -- to create a militant parish. Most of us are smart enough to say, "Oh no, we don't mean that." -- but it seems to be exactly what we mean. Unless we can see the alternative and give ourselves to it.

One of the lovely things about Thornton's approach is that it begins with fact, not blue sky. The fact is that there is no parish church that has ever been 100% faithful. No parish church that has ever had all its members live by Rule. No parish church in which every member of the Body was happily at mass every Sunday and doing the Office every day. No parish church in which there was 100% tithing, along with 100% anti-racism, and environmentally friendly action. There are however parishes that pretend such things. They are called sects and usually have overbearing rectors setting a high bar for everyone. 

We would seem to be left with a choice between the sect (a fantasy, illusion) and a conventional parish that doesn't matter very much in the lives of people.

Unless of course we have something like a sound pastoral theology which includes mental models such as the Remnant Theory or the Shape of the Parish Model. In which case the bar for admission is set very, very low -- baptism. And those called to Rule, Mass, Office, personal devotions (that fit personality and circumstances) are few but essential -- the heart beat that has its source in an energy not its own (Charles Williams), in which a power from the center pervades the whole (Martin Thornton), and that acts upon the world as the stream of redemptive power flows out (William Temple). It's organic, simple, efficient.

The task isn’t to abolish institutionalism. The parish is an institution and that will place claims upon leaders and members. The task is to shape the parish in such a manner so that we more fully cooperate with the Paraclete. The task is to spend more time nurturing, supporting, and coaching the Remnant, the Apostolic, and those ready to move toward that life.

And given that the natural “demand system” of the institutional parish system will draw us away from such work we need to arrange another demand system alongside that. A demand system that helps the heartbeat.

A few examples:

1. Nurture the experience of the Kingdom in parish life. People need that foretaste.

The base is Eucharist and Daily Office. The weekly practice and the daily practice. Don’t separate them. People will not get the idea of “pattern” if the priest doesn’t live and offer the pattern. And, yes, "daily" means daily. The closer you are to that the more people will begin to understand the pattern. So, no Evening Prayer or Compline just on Wednesday.

Shape a climate around and within the Eucharist and Office that is calm, patient, with focused graceful energy.

Have real quiet days at least twice a year.

Have the Reconciliation of a Penitent on the public parish calendar at least several times in Advent and Lent. 

2. Allow space so people can naturally make connections with one another, form friendships and develop cliques. 

Yes, cliques are healthy. A definition – “a small group of people, with shared interests or other features in common, who spend time together and do not readily allow others to join them.”  The first part sounds fine, the second may trouble you. But they go together. When people develop close bonds of affection along with that is a hesitation to allow others to join and possibly disrupt what is fine and good. 

That means having a coffee hour after each Sunday Eucharist. It may include a few announcements but is mostly a time for people to naturally connect with one another. So, avoid attempts at forced community, having business meetings or educational programs.

3. Provide systematic training and coaching in the ways of the Christian Life.

And repeat, repeat, repeat. Seek the long-term development of the core. Make that your measure in place of attendance at each program. Three learning what it is to live by Rule in March, followed by four others in September, followed by two in January and five in August – and after ten years you have a strong core.

Eucharistic Practices classes (not Instructed Eucharist) several times/year, that orient members to the Eucharist and teach them how to participate, not teach them about participation.

Two-session coaching sessions on “doing the daily Office on your own.” Offer three or four times per year.

School of prayer – maybe two each year on different methods (other than Eucharist and Office which are dealt with in the above) – spiritual reading, meditation, Lectio, Intercession, centering prayer, contemplation, icons, etc.

If you are to shape the parish as Body of Christ, along with attending to the institutional claims on your time, you will want to learn to see the unseen rhythms and dynamics of the Body. And you will want to offer training and coaching that supports and nurtures those rhythms and dynamics.

The rhythms and dynamics

A heart beat that has its source in an energy not its own (Charles Williams), in which a power from the center pervades the whole (Martin Thornton), and that acts upon the world as the stream of redemptive power flows out (William Temple). 

A movement between being renewed in baptismal identity and purpose and living as instruments of God’s love in daily life (Gallagher/Heyne) a movement grounded in awe and adoration issuing in service (Evelyne Underhill).

It's organic, simple, efficient.

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