This morning I heard an interesting interview on CBC radio. Made me stop eating my shredded wheat long enough to make a few notes. The man being interviewed is from England and he has started an organization to meet the needs of many. It is called the Sunday Assembly Network. They meet on Sunday morning, they listen to a speaker, they sing together, they have coffee and cookies together after, but don’t be confused this is not a church. The Sunday Assembly Network is not religious. They proudly proclaim that they have no doctrine, they have no deity and they don’t do supernatural. So I guess is like church but without the religion part.
He said that he and his partner decided that people were missing out on the opportunity to gather and to do good so they started this gathering. The first time they met they expected about 30 people and 200 showed up. Their motto is “Live better, help often, love more.” He said they have no dogma, they are godless but they welcome everyone even religious people! As he put it “We have the best bits of church but no religion.”
When I checked out their website it says that 36 new assemblies will start up this coming Sunday in countries as far flung as Belgium to Canada, the US to New Zealand.
It doesn’t surprise me that such a need was felt and that the desire to gather to do good exists everywhere. I guess it saddens me that the church, which was started with goodness in mind has failed in the eyes of so many people. In the Book of Acts it describes the beginning of the church with these words, “Now the company of those who believed were of one heart and soul, and no one said that any of the things which he possessed was his own, but they had everything in common.” It gives a picture of life in community. That said, I know, having lived my life in the church, that community can be hard work and for all our desire to do good and be good, sorting things out with people can be tough sometimes.
The fast expansion of the Sunday Assembly points to the fact that people long for community. I believe that churches are about building community around shared values as much as they are about doctrine and dogma. I know that in all the congregations I have served it would be difficult to find two people who would agree on the same interpretation of scripture or the tenets of the faith but they do all agree that the gathering of community is critical in the expression of our faith.
Would you go to a Sunday Assembly knowing there would be not talk there about God?
In answer to the question, sure, we do it all the time. We gather in the name of…….a sports team, a lobby, a hobby, a fan club, a clan club you name it. But when we name it we start to get it wrong because whatever we name is a moving target. The idea of community is compelling though, much in the same way we speak of light in darkness. ‘where ever two are gathered……’