Practical Atheists?

Yesterday the Parish Treasurer and I went to school. We spent most of the day at the diocesan vestry school. It’s hard for me to have a major time commitment like this on a Saturday. Typically, I dedicate all day Saturday to pretty intensive sermon work. When we left yesterday morning, I didn’t yet have anything on paper, although I did have an idea beginning to take shape in the back of my mind. That sermon was going to be about how spring, even with all of its buds and blossoms, is really not an adequate metaphor for Easter. Given the 40-degree temperature drop we’ve just experienced, maybe that would have been a good sermon to preach this morning. Spring seems to be gone. Easter, I pray, is not gone.

But I heard a phrase at vestry school yesterday morning that I have been troubling over ever since. I want to share and explore it with you this morning.

The keynote speaker was Jim Lemler, former Dean of Seabury-Western Seminary, here in Evanston, and now Director of Mission for the national church. His address was on Mission and Evangelism: Doing the Groundwork in your Congregation. But it was his passing quotation of another author that caught my attention. Parker Palmer, an Episcopal priest, writer, and retreat leader, said something like this:

Speaking specifically about Episcopal Churches and what impedes our growth, Palmer said (according to Lemler), "It is not doctrinal atheism that stifles our life and growth. It is practical or functional atheism that kills us."

Think about what we’re talking about… all sorts of growth and life and renewal that we seek in our congregations. What is it that stimulates or nourishes that growth? Or, in this case, what robs us of life and deadens our vigor, shrinks our voice and presence and vitality?

Atheism. Just to review the vocabulary… Atheism denies the existence of God. Agnostics affirm the existence of some sort of mysterious theological entity, but feel that this God is not immediate or knowable. Atheists are non-theists. There is no God here, they say.

Parker Palmer says that Episcopal congregations generally are not doctrinal atheists; we are pretty good at saying the Creeds. For some or many of us, there may be a few phrases where we cross our fingers in the Creeds, but we say them. Over and over we say them, and we do affirm and believe the doctrine of God that the Creeds outline. We do heartily believe in the God of the Nicene Creed. We are not doctrinal atheists. We are, Palmer suggests, practical atheists. We don’t believe in the existence of God in the everyday, practical lives of our congregations. Or even if we do believe it, we sure as hell don’t want to talk about it. Which is virtually the same thing.

I’m not sure what to think of Parker Palmer’s observation. What do you think?

Do you… Do we… believe and live and act and talk like we believe that God is present and active in the practical life of this congregation? Think about it. Are we practical atheists?

The question is much more than whether or not you feel a sense of awe in worship, whether the majesty of the liturgy or the mystery of the Eucharist brings you a sense of God’s presence. Those are indeed things to celebrate. The broader question is whether we believe that God informs and empowers our vestry; whether parishioners truly do make stewardship decisions prayerfully and with a conviction of God’s guidance; whether we say, or even think, "Praise God" when a visitor walks through the door, whether we "Praise God" when a hand is offered in ministry or fellowship, whether we shout "Praise God" when teenagers act on their faith to raise money for the hungry in a crop walk on a cold day; whether we make our individual or congregational decisions based primarily on our comfort or God’s call; whether each of us believes that this congregation and our life together are truly a place where God is encountered and known.

What do you think? Is Parker Palmer on track? Are we practical atheists?

It is easy to forget God. Amid so much to do and manage. To forget about God. Even here. It is easy to forget about God.

I am also aware, in my own life, of not wanting to be one of "those people." One of those people who is always saying "Praise God." One of those people who speak of "The Lord" in the same tone of voice and with the same familiarity that they speak of a trip to the mall with their girlfriends. I don’t want to be one of those self-righteous people who claim God’s authority for everything they do or say. It certainly is possible to cheapen God, to be overly casual. To create a God in our own image as our own companion and confidant. I wouldn’t want to do that. And I’m skeptical of people who see God’s hand at work when a parking place opens up for them at the mall or when the train happens to be late on the morning that they are running late, or when their child gets the better fourth grade teacher. I do not want to hear or say "Praise God" on those occasions. So I don’t say it. I don’t say it enough.

But, you know, God is present in all of these situations. Forgetting about God doesn’t mean God is absent. My discomfort with the idea of a chummy Lord doesn’t mean that God is not as close to me as the closest friend. Maybe we and others misinterpret God’s character and the specific nature of God’s action in our lives, but that does not mean that God is not present and involved in our practical, everyday lives. Are we mindful and praiseful of that presence? Or are we practical atheists?

Parker Palmer identifies two sorts of potential atheists, doctrinal atheists and practical atheists. I wonder if there isn’t another middle category that fits a lot of Episcopalians. Selective atheists. We believe in God and God’s presence in some situations, but not others. Even in our common life in the church, we are mindful and praiseful of God in some situations, but maybe not in others. The parish prayer list is somehow closer to God’s heart, more effective in connecting to God, than an individual’s bedside prayers. Or, similarly, the prayer for the whole state of Christ’s church and the world is a part of our experience of God, but two friends praying together is not a place where God is routinely expected. Selective atheism. It is also a common assumption among Episcopalians, though rarely explicitly stated, that God dwells more closely with the ordained than with the laity. That words from the pulpit carry more Godly authority than words from the pew. That ministry with a collar is more real, holy or valuable ministry. Many of you have told me, indirectly, that you believe this. Selective atheism. Which denies the fullness of God’s presence with every member of the Body of Christ here in this community.

In the end we do come back to Parker Palmer’s provocative contention that Episcopal congregations, in general, are practical atheists, lacking belief that God is present in the practical lives of our congregations.

What do you think?

Are we, as individuals, as a congregation, practical atheists? Do we believe in the undiluted, unqualified presence and love and guidance of God with all of us in everything that we do every day? Do we live mindful and praiseful for God with us in every prayer, every decision, every activity that is a part of the practical day-to-day lives of this fellowship in Christ?

What do you think?

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