Been thinking a lot -- and talking -- about the core of the Church. Today's group was filled with comments about -ism's: Calvinism (it is the 500th anniversary of the Scholar-Lawyer's birth), Catholicism, Amish, Reformed, Evangelicalism, Baptist, Charismatic and other traditions/ism's. The remarkable thing was the Grace that was powerfully present at the core in each tradition. But what a mess it has all become. And the Church is under seige.
A CEO in the group described how his family taught and modeled Catholicism. After 2 minutes eveyone sat with jaws open. "I never heard it described that way! Love, intimacy with Christ, the gospel in word and deed, trust in a God who is at work in the world--WOW! Really? You're kidding! Mine was more about guilt and fear and rules and oughts!" Soon around the circle other traditions were described and similar comments made. Doctrine had trumped relationship; con-formation had strangled trans-formation.
Another brother steeped in Calvinist education recalled his upbringing, the pros and cons. And he lamented the drift of his denomination over the centuries into a scholastic, hyper-Reformed, predestination-obsessed faith, and why it seems they only talk about Genesis, Romans, and Galatians. And we all wondered, "Where is Jesus? Why must we keep institutionalizing the faith?" It is so ironic that so many churches and ministries with "Grace" in the name seem to have so little of it. And we remembered that WE are the church and must become a collective contrarian voice to combat the drift. One day, one life at a time. Starting with ours.
I find myself rebelling more and more against the heirarchy and the manipulation that is often disguised as leadership. I am finding a deeper longing for a more communal life and ministry, a Church that cares more about sinners at the margin than marginalizing sinners. A Church that restores the wayward -- members and leaders alike -- instead of throwing them on the streets because of "moral failure." Hey--we do not have moral failures. We ARE moral failures--all of us. Flawed is the new Perfect! (that's a title for one of the sessions at our October 24 GroupLife Event). And it is time for Grace to reign supreme. Which is all the more reason to remove the Church from the tyranny of hierarchy and return it to the level ground of community. A place where we can call one another to holiness and restore one another from the pit of despair, sin and darkness.
It is a beautiful thing to watch a community bring hope to those who long to repent and be renewed and restored. But too often they find little more than guilt and shame at the hands of people who view their own sins as lesser evils, and who create places for "those people" or "that leader" to go to for healing from their "addiction" or problem. Such zealots place the Church in grave danger--as they always have. They want a "pretty" Church not a pure Church. They are obsessed with promoting their "brand" instead of protecting the Bride. But the real Church -- the community characterized as glorious ruins-- is a work in progress, and her servant-leaders are humble failures pointing others to the same GRACE they themselves so desparately need. That is the community I long for; that is the Church we must all become. And each little flock, each little community has the privilege to be a place of restorative Grace to that end.
Law always kills. And the greatest threat to the Church of the 21st Century is not the Gay agenda, or the Republicrats, or the breakdown of the family, or whether we drink wine or how we baptize, or the immigration issue, or Obamacare. The greatest threat is Legalism. It is alive and all too well in every "brand" of the faith. And it is time to put it to death--together. To rise as a community and shout, "ENOUGH!" In the name and power of the One whose Grace has changerd us forever.
