We haven’t had a new member celebration in a while. Some of the reason we haven’t had one has been the pandemic and the strangeness of taking attendance for worship when a bunch of people are online. Some of the reason has been less new people visiting in general. But we haven’t neglected a new member celebration because we were afraid that those new members were going to be mugged.
That wasn’t the case in Smyrna, the second city church to whom Jesus sends a letter in John’s Revelation. Unlike some other cities in the near east, Smyrna was not Christian-positive. Smyrna was famous for the way that it identified and persecuted Christians. One author, Mike Breen, put it like this: “It is as if the church leadership in Smyrna would say, ‘Well, let’s get you on the church roles, and then after that, two thugs are going to come and steal all your furniture, beat you up, and lock your wife in jail.'” Thankfully, I don’t have to tell our newest members that this is their reality when they join University Lutheran.
Yet, as bad as things in Smyrna were, the church in Smyrna was thriving in its faithfulness. It seems counterintuitive to us, but one of the ways of understanding the Christian church is that it is what Nassim Taleb calls an “antifragile” organization. Taleb has identified a few organizations that he calls “antifragile” that have this odd trademark of actually experiencing more growth in periods of stress and disorder. The long history of the Church has ratified this. The early church father Tertullian even went as far as saying that, “the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church.”
So what does that mean for us in the more comfortable situation of being the church in America? It means that faithfulness is likely going to be difficult for us. Our situation doesn’t benefit from the clarity that seemed arrive naturally for Smyrna. Our faithfulness will be hampered by what? By our own comfort. Our comfort ironically seems to work against our faithfulness.
Thankfully, the good news is good news for us all – whether we live in America or in 1st century Smyrna. That good news is this: “Be faithful unto to death, and Jesus will give us the crown of life.” That’s my confirmation verse, Rev. 2:10. It doesn’t say “do great things that I will give you the crown of life,” it simply tells us to be faithful. In times of new member muggings or in times of new member celebrations, let us hold on by faith to the promise that Jesus will give us the crown of life.