The surfer – a parable with questions
It was
quite cold that winter morning. Most folk were there by this time and the
heating had begun to work, but it was still the sort of day when a heavy
coat was essential.
She was
different. Tie-died cut-off shorts and a ripped T-shirt. Her sandals made
that tell-tale flopping noise on the wooden floor and her masses of bleached
blonde curls hadn’t seen a brush in days.
She
walked straight in and sat in the front row. People didn’t do that. Polite
people, especially those who hadn’t been to chapel before, waited to be told
which seat was free. Of course, almost every seat was free but she wouldn’t
know that, would she?
People
began to whisper. ‘Has she got a hymn book?’ ‘Do you know her?’ ‘Is it young
Ellie?’ ‘Who invited her?!!’
The
murmurs grew louder when she opened a packet of crisps. Then there was the
unmistakeable sound of a drinks can popping open. Would you believe it, the
surfer was having breakfast in church. And it wasn’t even a proper
breakfast.
Just
then the vestry door opened. The steward and preacher walked calmly down the
aisle and things settled down. No they didn’t! Just as people begun to turn
to the opening hymn the surfer stood up.
‘You
haven’t got a clue, have you?’ she said. ‘Here you sit, singing that hymn
for the … what … 450th time in your lives?’ She turned to the
preacher. ‘And what will you talk about? How this chapel has always been
here as a sign of God’s love for the world? That’s what you usually say – in
fact that’s what you always say: 1982, 1984, 1985 (twice), 1988 … check it
out, you’ll see I’m right.’
Her
curls were flying in all directions and her index finger shot forwards,
appearing to point at everyone at the same time.
‘You
haven’t got a clue. I’m here to tell you that God is sick of your religion.
He doesn’t want it and … you know what … neither does the world! What it
really wants is you! People need you, turned on by God and making a
difference to what’s going on in their lives.’
Quietly
the surfer walked from the front to the back of the church and every eye
followed. ‘You,’ she spat out, ‘are a bunch of wasters. Get a life.’ And she
walked out.
OK, this
is a fictional story but underneath it lie a number of disturbing realities
for the Christian church in the UK. In many places we are struggling to get
to grips with a growing chasm between faith as we practise it and life as
most people live it.
The surfer’s clash with this
small chapel congregation can be seen as a clash of cultures which can never
be resolved or as a confrontation from which bridges can and must be built.
On a number of levels it highlights what could, if used creatively, become
signs of hope for the future.
1 Who
do we welcome – and why?
a.
Appearance – clothes, hair etc
b.
Invitations – or gatecrashers
c.
Our expectations – and God’s
2 What
about tradition – and traditionalism?
a.
What’s good about the past?
b.
What have we invented to protect ourselves?
c.
The same – yesterday, today and for ever?
d.
Deference – or the lack of it
3 How
can we hear uncomfortable truths – and judge what’s true?
a.
Testing the Spirit
4 What
is the place of the prophetic – who does God use to disturb us?
a.
Culture clash
b.
Guided by the Spirit
c.
Hearing – and listening
5 How
do we embody hope – and what should it look like?
a.
Expect change
b.
Embrace change
c.
Let the culture critique us
Our surfer had already made
judgements about what was going on inside the chapel but her presence at
least signalled an underlying concern that the Christian faith should
have something to say to her and the surrounding community.
The constant decline of the
Christian Church in the West and the claims of its inevitable death have
produced a withered, stunted faith that has forgotten how to blossom. We
have to ask ourselves:
v
Are we willing
to welcome?
v
Do we
understand why people see us as out of date?
v
What do we need
to let go of?
v
How far are we
prepared to journey?
v
Where are the
lines in the sand?
v
Will we allow
the Spirit to lead us?
v
How do we
handle conflict?
v
How do we hear
difficult truths?
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