The Down-side of Playing It by the Numbers

I have had my diagnosis of lung cancer for just one week now, though I was strongly suspicious for a week or two prior to that: enough time to start getting my head and heart around the possibilities. In those weeks, my cough and an antibiotic were making it hard for me to sleep, so there were so many hours and such a big world-wide-web to awaken my curiosity. Bad idea. I saw just one number (the average 5-year survival rate for lung cancer) and made a decision right then and there:

I’m not going to do this by the numbers. I am not going to get bogged down in this statistic or that probability. Call it denial if you want, but I choose to keep my eyesight clearly focused on the One who actually knows what is going to happen and who is going to take very good care of me along the way. I choose to take one day at a time and make the very best decisions I can toward my health and healing, without compromise or fear of any odds that might be out there. Why use my precious energy going in that direction, when I am promised (and have experienced already) the energizing love of God by keeping the Main Thing the Main Thing?

So many Scriptures come to mind, one sent this morning by a long-time friend:

My child, pay attention to what I say;
listen closely to my words.
Do not let them out of your sight,
Keep them within your heart,
for they are life to those who find them
and health to a person’s entire body.
                                    (Proverbs 4:20-22)

It is nourishing not only to the soul but also to the body to be steeped in God’s Word, the means by which we know God’s power to redeem and heal, Jesus’ love with which we are carried, and the ability of the Holy Spirit to do what is humanly impossible. Jesus only got exasperated with his disciples when they could not grasp how imminent and available was God’s help. (And so many examples during Israel’s exodus, too.)

One of the lessons from Mark 6:35-44 illustrates my point here (not about exasperation but about God’s power):

Jesus and the twelve have rowed across the Lake to a quiet place for a meal and some rest, only to find the crowds had gotten there first. He sees how thirsty they are for the Kingdom of God, so he preaches once again almost all day. By five o’clock everybody is tired and hungry, and the disciples, going by the numbers, are distressed that too many needy people out there in the boonies might cause a riot. Jesus says, “No, no, let’s see what we have available right here in our midst.” The disciples find a little boy with a lunch big enough for himself—five loaves and two little fish—but a very low number indeed to feed a crowd. The disciples say, “No way, Jesus, this isn’t going to be enough.” But the Lord says [I imagine], “This is plenty! Go and organize the folks into eating groups, and I will get the food ready.” And then Jesus thanks his heavenly Father for what he has been given and asks the disciples to feed the people with it. The distribution begins, and there is  an abundance of food for everybody—thousands of people—with leftovers, too!

There’s only one number in that story that is important:  One. The One and Only, Jesus the Lord, is able to do the very thing that is needed. There are no “odds” to consider, except the certainty that God “is able to accomplish abundantly far more than all we can ask or imagine” (Ephesians 3:20).

Too many churches I have been a part of or have observed in the last twenty-five years have played it by the numbers. The most common number is the pledge amount that is revealed after Stewardship Sunday and the annual pledge drive for “tithes and offerings.” That number produces all kinds of doubts about what can be accomplished in the next year. A pledge-based budget closes off people’s ministry vision and reduces the question to “What does this amount of money allow us to do?” instead of “What has God called us to do in ministry to our community?”

The declining membership statistics of the PC(USA) represent another set of numbers wreaking havoc in the spiritual life of our denomination. At the last Assembly, it was reported that if the trend continues, the PC(USA) would see its demise in 2041, I think. Okay, this is not a good number. Fear of this eventuality is having a bad effect on denominational loyalists. Particularly in those presbyteries dismissing congregations to other Reformed bodies, numbers are being crunched to “guide” the process. In my earlier post, “Tell Me This Isn’t About the Money,” I gave one example of a situation in which it seems to me the terms of dismissal are computed to guarantee the survivability of the presbytery, not the flourishing of ministry. The scenario is developing toward a cash-rich but member-poor Church that can survive in perpetuity using the funds extracted from dismissing churches.

It is not money—playing it by the numbers—that is going to guarantee future denominational wellbeing, it is going to be faith in Jesus Christ, obedience to his Word, trust in the power of God, and submission to the Kingdom of God that will. When can we get the conversation back on track and stop working this solely by the numbers? Faith in the One who gives life and health according to God’s Word will bear fruit we can’t even imagine.

“What then are we to say about these things? If God is for us, who is against us?  He who did not withhold his own Son, but gave him up for all of us, will he not with him also give us everything else?  Who will bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies.  Who is to condemn? It is Christ Jesus, who died, yes, who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who indeed intercedes for us.   (Romans 8:31-34)