Christian Unity: Some Beginning Questions
And they will know that we are Christians by our love. And so we used to sing during church camp song times, linked arm in arm, swaying to the rhythms of love and solidarity.... But we were all United Methodists.
What is Christian Unity? Why are there so many denominations within Protestantism? Why do so many of us "shop around" for a new congregation when the one we are in doesn't quite suit us? Why do we switch? Why are some Protestants becoming disillusioned with the results of the Reformation and heading to Rome (converting to Roman Catholicism)? Is there a true Church? Is there a difference between the church I attend and the Universal Church, the Body of Christ that transcends two millenia? What makes a Christian? What is the basis of our belief? Our faith? What is meant by one Lord, one faith, one baptism? Is there a mother church/Mother Church? What do I mean by sometimes capitalizing, sometimes leaving in lower case, the word "Church/church?" Why isn't there just One Church...or is there? Why are there many churches within the One Church? Should there be, or should there not be? Is God offended? Grieved? Relieved? Peeved?
Okay, those are some beginning questions....
Feel invited to write some reflections. More will follow......
posted by J. Pete Strobel at 9:55 PM
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3 Comments:
I think on this subject often. Derek Webb (formerly of Caedmon's Call) sings:
They'll know us by the t-shirts that we wear.
They'll know us by the way we point and stare
At anyone whose sin looks worse than ours -
Who cannot hide the scars
Of this curse that we all bear.
And they'll know us by our picket lines and signs,
And they'll know us by the pride we hide behind,
Like anyone on earth is living right,
And isn't that why Jesus died -
Not to make us think we're right?
I'm so tired for fighting for "rightness." Correct thinking? What is that? How can any of us fathom truth on God's plane? That's why we must trust Him beyond our reason, beyond our interpretations...
I had the priviledge of speaking with Dr. Marcus Borg ("Meeting Jesus Again for the First Time") after a lecture he gave at OSU. He doesn't believe in a literal interpretation of scripture. He doesn't believe in a physically risen Christ. Yet he calls himself a Christian and believes unwaveringly in God and the pursuit of Jesus. How can this be?
He said, "I don't really care what you believe. Mental assent is easy. Agreeing to a list of concepts means very little. How does your faith CHANGE you? How does it make your life different? I want a transformative faith and a transformative community..."
Wow. I'm not going to turn into some Borgian skeptic, but I think Borg's indictments ring with truth. How easy is it to agree with a concept, vs. being changed by faith?
I think this goes to the heart of your question about Unity (uppercase) because few Christians I know would back me on this. Most of them are ready to condemn Borg as a heretic, but again turn their backs on the poor and the widows. Who is the greater fraud?
Thanks Pete!
Thanks, Pete, for your comments. One of my younger brothers recently e-mailed me an endorsement of one of Borg's books. Some day I may read his thoughts, but I find discomfort in his non-orthodox positions on Christ's resurrection (or lack thereof). Paul wrote that if Christ did not rise, we are left within our sins. Although Marcus Borg's thoughts on a transformative faith and community are laudable, I would submit that they aren't reachable unless Jesus truly has conquered death, harnessed the physics and metaphysics of life, and the transformation of matter (dying matter) into energy (spiritual, glorified energy). He would want to transform society, and Christianity, but deny the power of the resurrection to empower us to do that very thing.
What the Jesus Seminar seeks to do is to decide what Jesus said or meant, or what happened (miracles vs no-such-thing) in Palestine nearly 2000 years ago. They start a priori that miracles are impossible: Virgin Birth and Resurrection, Feeding 5000, water into wine, etc.. From that point of view or disbelief, they proceed to interpret or reinterpret the rest of scripture...
So how DO we proceed with Christian Unity, and Christian Dialogue? No, I won't judge Marcus Borg as a reprobate or heretic quite yet. Does he love Jesus? Follow Him as Lord? Can he do that if he just means believing that the historical Jesus had good things to say 2000 years ago, but does NOT NOW live and reign in glory, and even now prick our consciences, and empower us to resist sin through His current and ongoing living presence?
Well said Peter. I agree with your views on Borg, and yes - his writing is often discomforting.
I guess my point is that NONE of us have truly "right thinking." Do I think that faith in a Divine Christ is "righter" than Borg's "Merely Mortal" interpretation? Yes. I think Christianity, or whatever semblance of it Borg posesses, must be very sad and powerless without a risen, God-man Savior.
My encounter made me realize, though, that right thinking is just that - thinking. There must be more to our faith than ideological agreement.
I was visiting a class at Western Seminary on Monday and we were discussing this very thing - unity. "Is it even worth striving for if we already have so many denominations and divisions that keep us apart?" one student asked.
I believe that Christian unity must come missionally - through Christlike life and actions. Not T-shirts or slogans or bullet-point breakdowns of orthodoxy.
Love you man,
Pete
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