Bone Rattling

When an individual person is diagnosed with osteoporosis, they know they cannot reverse it but can manage it. It is a natural part of any biological organism for their bones to eventually become a management issue. Sociological organisms, like local congregations, also have structural issues. It is constant management. The prophetic book, Ezekiel, chapter 37, gives us an imagine of dry bones in a valley. The dry bones of the people in a life of exile begin to rattle. Then bone to bone, sinew, flesh and breathe. It’s just a wonderful passage of church management. I so often need the reminder of the layers of life that is Christ’s church. 

When an individual person is diagnosed with osteoporosis, they know they may need medication and behavior changes to curb the effects that diminish the bones. Very often this includes sunlight and weight-bearing exercise. For sociological organisms, like local congregations, the brittleness of organized life cannot be managed at the surface of our ecclesial life, in program or worship style. Whether or not we are agile and responsive depends on an administrator(s) attending to the deepest level of organizational infrastructure with weight-bearing and light-giving therapies. 

The deepest level of organized life for Presbyterian congregations, and many other denominations, is the understanding of “call.” We understand the word “call” to be an intersection between God-given gifts and purposeful activity. When individuals are called in a local congregational context, they are not just called to “do”, they/we are called to be fully present for the larger body. Their work is to be light-giving and weight-bearing for the strength of the body. Their work ripples out into organized standing committees or ad-hoc committees. 

The word committee has become synonymous with bureaucracy, but at its best, committees live into their etymology. From the Anglo-French, the word committee emerges from the idea of “a person to whom something is committed.” Called officers of our congregation are called to tend to the bone-strength. Can we bear appropriate weight for a weary world? Can we move responsively and with agility in a dynamic existence?

If the administrative work at the deepest level of sociological organization is neglected in the life of the church, there is nothing short of a profound impact on the larger Body of Christ (BOC). Call on God as we might, if we are not administrating weight and light at the bone depth of organizational life, response to the world around us will be increasingly difficult. 

Committees, those committed to something, need at least these four energies at work for the sake of BOC bones: 

·    Persistent and stable rhythm of gathering with exit ramps and flow of membership.

·    Relevance in the gathering, relevance measured by playful but purposeful innovation and constructive conflict.

·    An intent to be affected by and effect the world outside our particular organized life.

·    Accountability and interdependence with another committee(s).

There has been a trend in organized life in the last couple of decades to decrease the number of elders, deacons or organized committees. Perhaps this was to minimize bureaucracy. Indeed, bureaucracy is always a risk. But that can be managed; the bones of our shared life are at stake. Ministry on Monday is about strengthening the bones and readying ourselves for hinging and connecting to one another.