Transforming Church

Our Joel Committee examined about twelve different options, many of which have been discussed here over the past several decades. With the help of a consultant, they presented a recommendation. Leadership agreed. The core membership agreed. We decided to hold a series of meetings; we called them cottage meetings. We scheduled thirty of them last year, and invited people all summer long to come. They came, in droves. We were talking about facility changes. A “sacred cow” was involved; taking down an old sanctuary. Lot’s of money was involved. Almost everyone was supportive. Some were concerned. Some were afraid. Some were mad. Nothing unexpected.

After one Cottage Meeting, a Sunday School Teacher came up to me. She was distraught. She had sat through the meeting and listened intently to the presentation. She heard a review of the process, the options that were explored, the criterion for decision making, and the final recommendation. She heard about the cost, and the new facility that would come, and the new ministry that would become possible. She was excited and wildly supportive! But she had sat just behind an older gentleman in the meeting. He was not nearly as excited. In fact, he was oppositional at best. But he never asked a question. He never made a comment (out loud). He never once attempted to even raise his hand or his voice – though there was plenty of opportunity to do so. He just sat and murmured - all the way through the meeting. He just muttered under his breath. Not loud enough for the presenters to hear, but just loud enough for her to hear.

One speaker passionately challenged the crowd, “We’re losing our teens.” He muttered, “Our teens are already lost.” “We want to provide top quality space for our kids,” and he murmured back, “Our kids are spoiled.” Some of the comments were aimed at the facility recommendation or the Joel Committee, and some were aimed at me as the pastor. There were dozens of them. Call them what you will, murmuring, grumbling, complaining, muttering. Some of what he said was true, some was not.

Some was sarcastic. (I find that word interesting: it comes from two Greek words, that when literally translated, mean to “cut the flesh”. Why would we ever want to be sarcastic?) In situations like this, my preference is to follow Matthew 18. When there is a problem, to go to someone and talk. I invited him into a conversation, which he declined. I pressed, and shared that he had been heard making comments – which he denied. From last summer until now, I have not seen him. Two voicemails have not elicited a response. Romans 12 calls me try. “In so far as it depends on you, be at peace.” I have tried.

The congregation has now voted to move ahead. We’re in the midst of the Capital Campaign as I write this article. Some are opposed. Most are supportive. The teacher is still frustrated with the “conversation” she overheard. “Why would someone do something like that?” And the more pointed question, “What does the Bible have to say about stuff like that?” I recalled a sermon I had preached at a men’s retreat about ten years ago. They had asked me to speak to the issue of grumbling. It was a fun sermon to preach.

Have you ever taken a look at what the Bible says about murmuring? Complaining? Grumbling? God does not seem to take too kindly to people grumbling against God or the leaders of God’s people. In the book of Numbers, the people have been complaining against God. They had been rescued from slavery in Egypt, only to find themselves wandering through the wilderness. As one point in exasperation, they ask God, “Did you just bring us out here in the wilderness to let us die?”

We’ve all said stuff like that, haven’t we? Especially in the wilderness. Just imagine the shock when God replies in Number 14 that they can have what they have been asking for. "How long shall this wicked congregation murmur against me? I have heard the murmurings of the people of Israel, which they murmur against me. Say to them, ‘As I live,’ says the LORD, ‘what you have said in my hearing I will do to you: your dead bodies shall fall in this wilderness’.” They asked if they were there to die – and God allows them to die!

I shudder to think of the number of times that sarcastic words have tumbled from my lips. “Can you be any more boring?” I plead, when I’m finding myself tired of listening to a speaker. In Numbers 21 God sends fiery serpents among the people and in Numbers 26 the earth opens up and swallows the complainers. Take your pick: serpents, fire, dying in the wilderness, or having the earth open up and swallow us. I think the message is clear – God is not real keen on murmuring, grumbling, complaining, and the like.

There is danger in the murmuring. It poisons the listeners. It demonstrates poison already in the speaker. Luke 6:45 reminds us that out of the heart, the mouth speaks. When there is a grumbling problem, in us – or in the people around us – there is a heart problem. Hebrews 13:17 contains an admonition to followers and to leaders, “Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they keep watch over your souls as those who will give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with sighing, for this would be harmful for you both.”

Hey leaders – have you sighed lately? I find myself sighing on occasion. The murmuring in others is one of the prime sources for my sighing. I need to do a gut check of my own – and ask whether I am murmuring? I also need to stop and listen to see if there is murmuring in my midst. It becomes a weight. An oppressive weight. I’m not going to pray for God to send snakes (because I may well end up with a bite). But I do need to stop and listen – to myself – and to others. And see what I can do to turn off the murmuring and grumbling and complaining. I’m not sure that it really does any one any good. Thoughts?