February 3, 2014

Flash Mass

If imitation is a form of flattery, then I suggest we heap some compliments on an idea out of western New York.

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Buffalo has offered a clever twist on the flash mob. In layman’s terms, a flash mob is when a group of people suddenly appears in a public place at the same time, seemingly in a spontaneous fashion, and joins together in some act such as dancing or singing. The folks in Buffalo decided to try the idea to encourage people to attend mass at one of its aging congregations. 

These Flash Masses—or Mass Mobs—are coordinated through social media. People vote on which church to visit on a given Sunday and then show up, if you will, en masse, for worship. The idea is to expose people to different churches—and to bolster the dwindling numbers so they experience a full building again.

In a news story about the initiative, the founder said the purpose was to “reignite interest, support, and perhaps even membership in older churchs that ‘kind of fall off the radar screen of people.’”   

For the Flash Mass participants, they get a chance to participate in something fun, to be exposed to beautiful architecture, and to worship with others from across the city. For the church members, often fewer than fifty, it’s a chance to experience a bygone time, when the pews were filled, and Christ’s church was brimming. 

There’s another benefit, said one of the priests interviewed: It “shows that we are not just one parish, that it’s the whole family of the diocese. We take care of each other.” 

During the time I worked on a diocesan staff, we had a couple of occasions where we encouraged people from other congregations to attend regular worship at a different location. The two I remember are the congregation where part of the membership left The Episcopal Church, and people from throughout the diocese came on Sunday morning to fill the pews and to remind the faithful remnant that they were not alone. 

This Flash Mass idea builds upon this foundation: You are not alone. 

It acknowledges the problem that faces most mainstream denominations today: How to sustain and keep open churches as their attendance dwindles and resources dry up. 

This isn’t a panacea for some difficult decisions now and in the next few years. But it is an interesting and theologically profound way of reminding us all that we’re in this together. That we are not alone.