Decade
after decade we go on trying to perfect the church or perhaps trying
to protect the church.
Decade after decade, we find various people caught up in all kinds of
movements which will ensure the church you find in the Yellow Pages
is the Real Church, the True Church.
If
right thinking were all it took to get the Gospel proclaimed to the
world, that would have been discovered years ago. It is about right
action, not right
thinking.
The
task of the church and its clergy in not to tell you what to think.
It is rather to teach you how to think theologically – how to think
with the heart of Christ.
The
responsibility of the church is to help you develop an informed
conscience so you may go about the task of right action in your life.
This informed conscience is not a single thing. It is a product of
the Anglican sources of authority – Scripture, Tradition and
Reason. It is frighteningly personal and individual, and it has
great consequences.
The
church is not about being mad, all of the empirical evidence to the
contrary not withstanding. It is not about getting your needs met or
making you happy – or mad for that matter. It is about one thing.
It is about what we call The Great Commission.
Matthew
28:19-20. (From The Message for clear understanding) "God authorized and commanded me to commission you: Go out and train everyone you meet, far and near, in this way of life, marking them by baptism in the threefold name: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Then instruct them in the practice of all I have commanded you. I will be with you as you do this, day after day after day, right up to the end of the age."
Jesus
said: Teach them to do as I have commanded
you. This carries with it the
implication that you are already obedient and that you can teach what
you already do.
This
is not that hard to understand. His command to the disciples, to you
and to me is direct, clear and immediate. His command is that we
love one another.
The Scripture contains many ways of
applying the principle of love to life. The Gospels are filled with
them. We need to be filled with that command so that it is
indisputable in the way we live our lives.
Hear This! It is God's church. It
is not your church or my church. It is God's church and it is in
disrepair. It is always in disrepair. It has always been in
disrepair. You and I are are the church. We are in disrepair. We
have always been in disrepair.
This is about asking us to be reborn.
It will be untidy. We will not all agree on the process or the
outcomes, but we are all called to a life of progressive conversion.
It is not something to accomplish and put away. It is a call to your
whole life for all of your life.
There is Hope. You know what to do.
Let us begin – again. Amen.
Excellent. More sermons should say this, and be this short.
ReplyDeleteBob
+Bob,
ReplyDeleteEvery paragraph in your blog is a gem of wisdom: “trying to protect the church,” “right action,” ‘teach how to think,” “it’s not your church,” and “It will be untidy.” The old country wisdom of “If it not broke, don’t fix it” was superseded 20 years ago in the book by Robert Kriegel “If it ain’t broke…break it!” The reality is that far too much of our leadership is still pretending that the Episcopal Church is not broken in spite of 50 years of decline. In our post-modern age we need to break the nonsense that the task of the church is to make God look good. Not our task - and we’ve been done poorly anyway. Those who are standing in the way of the church being born again need to get out of the way.
Right on to Bob and all!
ReplyDeleteA call to be reborn is like joining god in God's ongoing new creation. I agree out task in not to make god look good. I also think our task is to try to avoid making God look bad—unloving in a word.
ReplyDeleteA call to be reborn is like joining God in God's ongoing new creation. I agree our task is not to make God look good. I also think our task is to try to avoid making God look bad—unloving, in a word.
ReplyDeleteReally fine, Lyn. Thanks.
ReplyDelete