Members Only Please

One Sunday last year I took an empty envelope, sealed it, then placed my signature across the back of it. I then handed it to our churchwarden just at the beginning of the service and asked him to tape it at the steps leading to the pulpit. I did it at a time when most everyone had been seated to ensure there were many people watching. I told no one, including the churchwarden, that the envelope was empty. In fact, I told the churchwarden nothing about why I was asking him to tape an envelope on the steps.

During our service, I noticed from time to time that people would glance at the envelope. My guess was that they assumed I would be using it during the homily. But that wasn’t my intention. After the service, as I greeted people leaving, several asked me what was in the envelope. All I said was that it was ‘something personal to me.’ As we were about to depart the churchwarden asked me what was in the envelope. My response was the same – ‘something personal to me.’

At coffee afterwards I heard several people whispering to one another, asking what was in the envelope. During the week I saw numerous parishioners in town. I wasn’t surprised to hear one lady say that she had asked the churchwarden what was in the envelope and he told her that he ‘wasn’t at liberty to say.’

The following Sunday I collected the envelope during the service. I held it up and commented that I had hoped no one had given away what was in the envelope. I’m sure it was my own perception, but several people looked as if they were deer caught in the headlights of a car. I tore the envelope open to reveal that it was empty.

Humans have an almost insatiable urge to possess knowledge which is not available to others. It may involve joining esoteric secret societies or in its simplest form a preoccupation with gossip. Knowing something that other people don't can give a sense of power or security.

But secrecy does not sit well with the Christian faith. And yet in the Gospels we find that Jesus seems to suggest He uses parables so that his listeners won't understand. When He was asked to explain parables He quoted from Isaiah that His audiences will, ‘listen but never understand ... see but never perceive.’ And then He went on to say the disciples had been blessed with the ability to grasp what He was talking about.

It was this sense of secret knowledge that led to a Christian heresy called Gnosticism, which taught the theory that you required a ‘special knowledge’ to find salvation. It was attractive because it offered a sense of security for those on the inside - who had the knowledge. Mainstream teaching held that God's truth was available to all who would listen.

It would be wrong to suggest that Jesus spoke in a way that was purposely obscure. The truth is that He was a creative conversationalist whose flowing oratory could invoke graphic images of a spiritual life. He spoke in a way that His words could reach people on many levels. Sadly, it’s a gift that some ministers don’t understand.

Our world is splintering into more and more groups of exclusivity, whether it’s in religions, communities, or social lives. Bear in mind that the root of ‘exclusivity’ is to ‘exclude.’

If we were to invest as much in learning about others as we do in promoting ourselves, perhaps we could begin to shore up the foundations of our severely fractured world.


God of truth, help us to listen more patiently and to speak more honestly so that we can grow in trust and understanding with all we meet today. Amen

The disciples came to him and asked, ‘Why do you speak to the people in parables?’ He replied, ‘The knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of Heaven has been given to you, but not to them. Whoever has will be given more, and he will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him. This is why I speak to them in parables: ‘Though seeing, they do not see; though hearing, they do not hear or understand.’ Matthew 13:10-17

.

Go Ahead Take Your Best Shot

The Power of Words

When U Turns Are OK

The Childrens Story Visit Our Children

Anglicans