Resisting the Vendor Shape of the Church

 Some years ago, George Hunsberger cautioned against what he called the “vendor shape” of many churches. When a church takes on a “vendor shape,” it loses its core identity as a unified body of Christ and become bifurcated into “consumers” and “vendors.” For example, Hunsberger once noted how a newspaper, writing about a church’s decision to build a new sanctuary, said, “A church has to decide how best to serve its congregation.” What is the difference between a “church” and its “congregation”? Hunsberger also pointed to one church’s mission statement that read: “First Presbyterian Church exists to offer the body of believers the opportunity to worship and glorify God.” Again, what is the difference between the “church” and “the body of believers”?  That bifurcated language only makes sense if the “church” is a group of people within the congregation, whose job is to offer programs and worship services and ministries that appeal to the rest of the congregation.  

When I read Hunsberger’s description of the “vendor shape” of the church, I started becoming aware of how often I use that kind of language. It is not as if there are some churches that are “vendor shaped” churches and others that really have it together. It is more the case that those of us who grew up in a vendor shaped culture are always tempted to lose the church’s core identity as an organic body and to think of the church as an entity that is out there to provide spiritual goods and services. Throughout the years we have rallied around several ways to remind ourselves what it means to be the church, a single body, with a variety of gifts and callings that work together as one. We sing songs like “Together we serve,” and “For Everyone Born,” and even alter the lyrics in order to ensure that each of us is included. We embrace themes, like “I am St. Mark” or “We are St. Mark.” We even have a Membership Commission, dedicated to finding ways to ensure that nobody feels marginalized or left out. St. Mark is not here to serve its members. St. Mark is its members and we’re here to glorify God through worship, loving one another, and serving God’s world. 

 

The reason I am reflecting on George Hunsberger’s important caution is because we are in that season when our Nominating Committee is seeking persons who would be willing to serve as Elders and Deacons beginning in 2026. Our Elders bear most of the decision-making responsibilities of the church, since the name Presbyterian implies “elder-driven.” And our Deacons provide the bridges between our congregation and different service organizations throughout Orange County. As a congregation that is called to worship, transformation, justice, stewardship, and service, the work of our Elders and Deacons is critical for enabling us to follow that call. 

 

This is precisely the place where we are tempted to take a “vendor shaped” approach to the church, expecting the church’s ministry to run well, but letting someone else bear the responsibility of leading them. And this is precisely the place where it is important to remember that we are the church. 

 

So, if you feel the call to step forward as an Elder or Deacon, let me know and I’ll connect you with the Nominating Committee. And if the Nominating Committee come knocking to invite you to consider one of those roles, please take some time to listen and consider whether this is your time to assume a servant-leader role. That’s how we move from saying, “St. Mark provides opportunities for its members to engage in ministry” to saying, “St. Mark engages in ministry, and I am St. Mark.” 

 

Mark of St. Mark

 

 

Community Wisdom

 Friends,  

Last week I asked how you are doing in the midst of a week where violence and injustice was centered in all of our news feeds. And I invited you to reach out with your responses to the question, “What can we, who aspire to take up the cross, do in such a time as this?” 

 

Thank you for your responses. They demonstrate the deep maturity of faith that exists in this congregation, as well as a respectful honesty about our limits. Some of your suggestions pointed toward individual actions that we can take or attitudes that we can embrace. Others pointed to more systemic attitudes or practices that we can cultivate corporately, which can help establish a different order that is less antagonistic. Again, I thank all of you who responded for your thoughtfulness and for taking the time to share your thoughts. Here is some of the wisdom I was able to glean from your notes. 

 

Someone has encouraged us to attend to our rhetoric and, instead of using the word “fight” when we speak of resistance, to use the word “work.” They noted that word “work” is more compatible with picking up and carrying a cross and doesn’t require a winner or loser. 

 

Someone has encouraged us lean into curiosity over criticism, and listening over presumption or fault-finding.  

 

Someone has encouraged us to start each day, and take time throughout the day when a decision is required, with the question:  "What does the Lord require of you?" and the answer, "Do Justice, Love Mercy and Walk Humbly".

 

Someone has encouraged us to pause in the noise and meditate mindfully. It can be a simple moment of breathing in grace and breathing out thanksgiving; it can be a time of silence and disconnection from the noise around or within; it can be a prayer; it can be a way of reminding us that we are part of something larger than what we see and feel. 

 

Someone has encouraged us to pay attention to our communication styles, whether they enhance or hinder engagement with those whose opinions differ. 

 

Someone has encouraged us to let only a certain amount of the news in and to pay attention to the sources which filter the news we do receive. 

 

Someone has encouraged us to find joy in volunteering, especially among those who are struggling the most. Helping someone matters, even if we can’t help everyone. 

 

Several persons have encouraged us to look at our vocation as a way of practicing our call to love others, work for peace, and advocate for justice, by the way we encounter others, use our voice, and exercise our power. 

 

As you can see, the responses that I received demonstrate how deeply ingrained our identity is as a community that not only rests in the joy of knowing that God redeems us, but responds to that joy by taking up the cross as the way of following Christ. that is beyond our understanding. 

 

I am incredibly humbled and thankful to be part of this journey with you. 

 

Mark of St. Mark

 

 

A Week of Violence and Hubris

 Friends, 

This week has been a mess: A Supreme Court decision left anyone who seems identifiably non-white vulnerable to raids and arrests; a decision by HUD left many organizations that have been providing service for homeless persons suddenly defunded if they do not begin to espouse a particular political party line; a school shooting in Denver, the second in two weeks, continuing a sickening kind of violence that is affecting our youth far more than many of our elected leaders will admit; and a tragic and evil political assassination in Utah took a life and opened a door for more violence. Each of these actions grows out of our culture of violence and each has the potential to continue the downward spiral of escalatory violence. For people of faith, our question is how to resist allowing our own anger to devolve into yet another layer of retaliatory rhetoric or action. 

 

So, how are you doing in the midst of all of this? 

 

This week, the United Methodist Church issued a very powerful statement in response to the Supreme Court decision to allow racial profiling that said, “This ruling deepens fear among those whose first language is not English, whose accents are noticeable, and whose very appearance, workplace, or attire may now be used by agents as a pretext for questioning. It forces entire communities to live under the constant threat of harassment without cause. People become targets for scrutiny simply for existing.”  You can read the entire statement here.

 

So, how are you doing in the midst of all of this? 

 

I have heard from St. Mark members who live in fear of being rounded up because of their ethnicity, as well as students who go to school anxiously every day because the fear of violence, as well as couples who fear that their marriage will be the next target. Last week, in my sermon, I mentioned how the New Testament was written to audiences who shared these kinds of anxieties. It was to people living in fear of government sanctioned discrimination that Jesus said, “Love your enemy.” It was to people who knew the burden of oppressive politics that Paul wrote, “Do good to those who hate you.” It was to disciples hiding in secret rooms with locked doors that Jesus said, “Peace be with you.” None of these aspirations was easy to achieve then, and none is easy to realize today. 

 

So, how are you doing in the midst of all of this? 

 

Dr. King, also facing a government that practiced and protected discrimination, once cautioned that taking an eye for an eye simply leaves two people blind. The harder path, the narrower path, the path that is often untaken, is to overcome evil with good, to overcome falsehood with truth, and to overcome hate with love. Any attempt at discipleship without this precise kind of costliness is what Dietrich Bonhoeffer so poignantly called “cheap grace.” The grace of discipleship is “costly grace,” and it is a path that turns from being outraged to being engaged when violence and injustice take place. But Christian engagement in issues that have been politicized is different from politics in general. We do not choose between love or justice, because we trust that the God of love is also the God of justice and, in God, they are one. 

 

So, how are you doing in the midst of all of this? What can we, who aspire to take up the cross, do in such a time as this? 

 

Next week, I will offer some starting points, but I want your input as well. I invite you to send me your strategies and avenues of engagement, that I can post in forthcoming Friday newsletters. Send it here. I will benefit from your wisdom as we pursue this path of love and justice together. 

 

Mark of St. Mark 

 

 

Playground and Serving Children

 Friends, 

I have some exciting news to share about our St. Mark Community Preschool. This week the new school year began with a brand-new playground! This playground seemed to appear overnight, but of course it took a lot of hard work and planning. A “Playground Committee,” has been planning this work, selecting the equip
ment, scheduling the destruction and removal of the old equipment and the installation of the new. It was no small feat, and all the removing and installation took place in between the end of the Summer School and the beginning of our Fall Semester. 

 

The Playground Committee has been composed of Preschool parents Michael Manning, Ameen Lalani, Novelle Shakeel-Campoli, Lisa Barrymore, and Mark Rogerson; with our Preschool Assistant Director Noemi Carrillo, as well as Kathy Roberts and Greg McCollum, members of our Facilities Commission. We are so thankful for the long hours of perusing catalogs, taking measurements, studying safety features, and calendar planning that enabled this work to be done so well and in such a timely fashion. 

 

There is one more recent addition to the Preschool that you will appreciate. Last month a Patrick’s Purpose Bench was installed, with the hope that no child (or adult) ever feels that they are alone, particularly when life can feel overwhelming. We give thanks for the life of Patrick Turner and the legacy that John and Kim Turner have established in his memory. 

 

We give thanks that St. Mark is able to provide such a stimulating and lovely place for children to learn to love the depth and beauty of God’s world. 

 

Mark of St. Mark

Two Events Forthcoming

 Friends, 

 

There are two things coming soon that I will write about today. 

 

First, the Orange County Pride Parade is scheduled for September 27 at the OC Fairgrounds. The Parade begins at 11:00, followed by a Festival at noon. For the second year, some churches from the Presbytery of Los Ranchos are joining together as “the Affirming Churches of Los Ranchos” for the march. Please consider marching with us. And this year, for the first time, we will have a booth at the Festival. We are trying to dramatically shift the narrative in our country, where too many loud churches call anti-discriminatory practices “woke,” and are pushing agendas to take away the rights of the LGBTQIA community to be legally married or adopt children, not to mention the imposition of discriminatory practices against non-binary and transgender persons. 

 

St. Mark “fought the good fight” many years ago when the State of California was facing “Prop 8” and the PCUSA was facing “Amendment B.” That work is not done. If you are willing to march with or work the booth for the Affirming Churches (or both), please visit this registration page. 

 

Second, the St. Mark worship commission asked me if we could have a “Saturday worship service” on a Sunday, in order to enable the larger congregation to see how the Saturday service expands our worship repertoire. That’s what we will do this weekend. As many of you who have experienced both services know, there are many similarities and some differences between our Saturday and Sunday worship. On Saturday, the “Evening Prayer” is contemplative, a deliberate mixture of music, silence, and words. One key to contemplative worship is that someone can detach from a responsive or unison reading and allow oneself simply to “be” in the moment. Another difference is the musical style, which is sometimes jazz, but better described as more intentionally improvisational on Saturdays. I find improvisation to be one way of participating in God’s activity and creativity in worship, and while it happens in many ways on Sundays, it is more deliberately worked into the music on Saturdays. 

 

The Sunday service has its own creative voice, with excellent organ accompaniment, an excellent choir, a time for the Young Church, a Handbell Ensemble, and some approaches to worship that work more effectively for a larger gathering than a smaller one. What makes us one, even with two services, is that the Scripture, sermon, call to worship, prayers, announcements, and most of the songs are the same on Saturday and Sunday. The presentation is different, but the core identity and message are the same. 

 

When we first studied and decided to initiate the Saturday service, I invited Rich Messenger, who was our Music Director at the time, to be as much a part of it as he wanted. Rich said that he thought it would be better to use his talents on Sunday and to let Saturday take on its own worship personality. One thing I committed to was not to try to build up the Saturday service at the expense of the Sunday service. That is one reason why I often may refer to both services, but try to err on the side of not promoting one at the expense of the other. I cannot tell you how deeply I appreciate both the Saturday and the Sunday worship services – the people, the music, the style, the repertoire, and especially the different ways that the Holy Spirit works in each. 

 

So, this Sunday, we’ll have “Saturday on Sunday.” It seemed like a good weekend to do so, since we have ended “The Well” and the choir will reboot the first Sunday of September. 

 

See you in worship,

Mark of St. Mark

Winding Down and Gearing Up

 Friends, 

 

Thank you all for the warm reception that you gave our guest preacher Kathy Kipp, as well as her family and friends who were visiting, last weekend. Back when I was interviewing here many years ago, one of the references that I contacted said, “St. Mark loves its pastors very well.” That has been true in my experience, and it seems to be true for guest preachers also. Thanks again.

 

This weekend is full of good. On Saturday is our Meet Me at Muldoon’s following worship. Come worship, come listen, come eat, come dance … just come! And, Sunday, we have three things for you. At 8:30 the Lectio Divina group will meet in the Conference Room of the Administration Building. Then, this is the last Summer Choir opportunity. If you show up at 8:30 promptly, you’ll be all ready to lead worship by 9:30. Our Choir Director, Ryan Yoder, is kind of magical like that. And finally, on Sunday, our older children will leave for Eco Club after our Young Church time. As I said, this weekend is full of good. 

 

Then, next Sunday, August 31, we will have a unique worship experience. You’ll love it. (That’s a teaser, folks!) 

 

Now, to gear up for our post-summer church life. I hope you’ve been reading the Faith in Action weeklies, and marking your calendars. You’ve got our “Text Study” series that begins the first week of September on your calendar, right? And the Choir Retreat for September 6^th, followed by the All Church Picnic for September 7? Then, on Monday, September 8, St. Mark has invited the Presbytery of Los Ranchos to join us in a four-week online study of the book, Disarming Leviathan: Loving Your Christian Nationalist Neighbor, from 7:00 – 7:45. Please contact SueJeanne Koh If you have questions. My goodness, the good just keeps on happening. 

 

And there are other things happening in our area among our ministry partners in Orange County. 

-              On Saturday, September 6, the Orange County United Way is having a “kickoff walk” from 8:00 - 9:30am to introduce a new community-wide, 5-year plan to serve Orange County together. A two-mile walk is planned for each of the 34 cities of Orange County. Click here for more information and to register.  

-              On Thursday, September 18, the Presbytery of Los Ranchos will host Rev. CeCe Armstrong and Rev. Tony Larsen as guests. They will also lead the Presbytery worship service at 7:00 PM, at Orange Canaan Presbyterian Church (right across the street from Glenn Martin Elementary!) Click here for more information. 

-              The OC Pride Parade and Festival will take place September 27 at the OC Fairgrounds. St. Mark is joining several other churches in the presbytery to enter the parade. If you would like to be part of the planning, please contact me here and I will send you a zoom link for a planning meeting, Monday, August 25, at 7:00 PM. 

-                

So much good to do – good things, good trouble, and good work. 

 

Be blessed,

Mark of St. Mark

 Friends, 

 

Last Sunday, we baptized a baby as an act of initiation and welcome into the church. Tomorrow, we will have a memorial for a long-time member and usher here at St. Mark. Between the baby's age, measured in months, and the member's 95 years, we can see the span of what a baptismal journey looks like. So, let’s talk about baptism for a moment. 

 

One of the things that I loved most dearly when leaving my Pentecostal Holiness roots and joining the Presbyterian Church was the practice of infant baptism. To be sure, Presbyterians baptize confirmands and adults when appropriate, and do so joyfully. But infant baptism was a strange thing to me, growing up in a church that exclusively practiced “believer’s baptism.” We would ask, “How do we know this baby will grow up and accept Jesus as their Lord and Savior?” We would wonder if those crazy Presbyterians (Lutherans, Catholics, and other hydrophobic types) imagined there was some kind of magic quality to the water or the ritual, that would affect the baby’s future life. We heard stories of parents whose children were born with life-threatening challenges, frantically searching for a chaplain who could come and baptize the baby to ensure that it could go to heaven. (I remember being taught that the thief on the cross wasn’t baptized, but Jesus assured him he would be in heaven.) Baptizing a child seemed a strange thing when growing up in a tradition that put all of its eggs in the “come to Jesus” basket. 

 

Then, I actually talked to Presbyterians. The water was not magic; neither was the ritual. The baptized infant would – at least this was the intended process – grow up in the church, surrounded by those who had participated in the baptism (never a private event for Presbyterians!), taught in Sunday School, held in prayers, greeted by name even by those whom the child thought was just another ancient person, loved by the community, and one day offered a chance to study and confirm the vows that were made on their behalf when they were infants. And the reason for this process was key: Long before we are capable or willing to confess our faith, God’s grace is present. If Presbyterian theology can be boiled down to anything it is this: God goes first. God’s love is not contingent on our love, God’s grace is not a response to our faith, God is not waiting for us to make the first move. That’s what infant baptism means most of all, and it is exactly why I fell in love with the practice. Even knowing that most biblical narratives about baptism involve adults, it struck me as more biblical than anything else to see baptism as a declaration of God’s grace, not a sign of our decision-making. 

 

Many of us did not grow up in traditions that baptize infants. Still, it is true about our journeys that God’s grace was there all along, and long before we had any say in the matter. I was declared a beloved child of God without any say in the matter, just like I was named Donald Mark without my consent. Whether we are months old or almost a century old, what graces our lives from beginning to end is God’s love. That’s why I have always gravitated toward the song that says, “When we are living, it is in Christ Jesus. And when we’re dying, it is in the Lord. Both in our living and in our dying, we belong to God.” 

 

Amen. 

Mark of St. Mark