In my first pastorate I worked with three churches, and one bore the name of Sardis. It is, in fact, quite a common chapel name in Wales. Which is very surprising given that this is the only Sardis in the Bible, and it is hardly an exemplar for those seeking to build a church! Perhaps those who baptised these churches did so with typical Welsh melancholy as a warning to the congregations of what might go wrong! It will all end in tears as my grandmother would say cheerfully whenever it looked as if her grandchildren might be enjoying themselves too much.
We have no idea what went wrong in Sardis. No particular sins are referred to. This was not a church full of gluttons, drunkards or abusers. Nothing so dramatic ever happened there. In fact, it appears that nothing much happened at all. The church managed to do enough to appear alive, but in fact it was virtually dead. I guess we all know some churches of this kind, and it may (or may not) be comforting to realise that they already existed within a couple of generations of Jesus.
Verse 3, like my grandmother, warns that this superficially enjoyable church life will one day end in tears. It has no substance, and Jesus will arrive like a thief in the night – because the death of such a church will be the arrival of Jesus, who always seeks life rather than death. The good news is that there are still some who walk with Jesus, clothed in white. They will be spared the fate of the church, and will share in the genuine, deep life of Jesus.
A few months ago I experienced for the first time the closure of one of the churches at which I have ministered. It was not called Sardis, and its closure was a big surprise to the local community and to other local churches, because it had seemed so alive. But when we held the closing service, Jesus was there. And a good dozen of the remaining members have transferred their allegiance to another church a few miles away, where they are becoming a valued part of the new congregation. I will not remove their names from the book of the living.
And Sardis, where I began my ministry? Its handful of members remain a vibrant living congregation of God’s people in a remote Welsh valley – determined that they will never live up (or down) to their name.
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