| Accidental Dissertation |
| See, today I wrote an e-mail to my mom. My mom asked me about a church that mia amino and I visited with our friend Jurns-I on Sunday. She asked because I told her we were considering switching to that one. The question: What was different about it that you liked? What follows is a slightly modified version of the answer I gave.
"As far as what was different about it… Well, when we walked in, I was immediately somewhat nervous (not like nauseatingly so, just “I don’t think this’ll be that great” kind of nervous), basically because it was a small church (which to me means fewer than 250 people in the attending congregation). I realize I have two problems with small churches: first, they often lack “age diversity”; second, when they sing worship songs (hymns or choruses), they often don’t have a leader so the congregation kind of muddles through it without any direction. I hate that feeling. If I really wanted to draw a spiritual analogy, I’d say something like “it’s like we’re all doing our own thing rather than being guided by one vision” or something like that. Either way, I don’t like it. But, this church didn’t have either of these problems. The congregation was a good mix of ages, and, though the hymns were “unled”, they were sung together. "Of course, that’s more saying “why I didn’t dislike it like I first expected to” rather than why I actually liked it. The sermon was good, but the sermons at the church I usually go to are usually pretty good, too. (Though this pastor was more organized than our normal pastor). What it comes down to more than anything is the feeling I got when we sang “Jesus, What a Friend for Sinners” on Sunday. You know how at one of the churches we sometimes visit back home more or less every Sunday there’s a song that makes me cry or come near to it. At the church I usually go to at school, that just doesn’t happen. Normally, during most hymns it doesn’t. But, it did on Sunday. I wasn’t actually tearing up, but I came close. It’s probably odd to hear that my reason for thinking about changing churches is something so unexplainable and, really, emotional rather than intellectual or theological. I guess to me, if I thought of it as me leaving the church I usually go to, I’d feel like I’d need a reason like that. “Fleeing from heresy” or the like. But, I guess I see it more as going to the church I just visited, which is somewhat different in my mind. "And I think that some of my view on “when people should change churches” has been influenced from reading George Fox and some of the other Quakers. Before, as I thought about it, I couldn’t really see any clear reason why people had any excuse to react to a congregation in a divisive, disharmonious way by leaving it for another congregation. Scripture provides absolutely no basis for leaving a congregation. Everything that the Epistles teach about dealing with sin in the church says, more or less, that it should be excommunicated unless the sinning member repents. But they don’t seem to teach anything about leaving one congregation for another (which makes sense since there generally weren’t multiple available Christian groups for believers to choose between), even as a response to mass sin in the nominal church or sin in the lives of the leadership. How this relates to Quakers: reading George Fox (and some others), I realize that not every answer is found in Scripture. (Try finding a person at our home church that agrees with that statement.) The Fount of All Knowledge isn’t Scripture, but rather the Spirit that inspired them. This Spirit can (but doesn’t always) provide the answer as to how to react in each and every situation we face. Now, that’s not to put Scripture down. It was all given by the inspiration of the Spirit, and, when read in that Spirit, is useful for doctrine, reproof, correction, instruction in righteousness, and a source of comfort and hope. It can also be useful as a tool that the Spirit uses so that some may come to Life in Christ. But, Scripture never even claims to tell us how to live our lives down to every last word we say. "But, I’m really digressing now. Anyway, based on this idea that where the Scripture is silent (like giving guidelines for choosing a church or deciding when to leave one), the Spirit “takes over” as the primary Guide. (Though, technically, even when one uses the Scriptures, the Spirit still has to be the primary Guide to ensure proper understanding and application, not to mention that the Spirit was and is the Inspirer of Scripture.) Jumping to conclusion then, I can only think of one good reason to leave a church. This reason is necessary and sufficient: the Holy Spirit of God is calling you elsewhere. Much how the pillar of cloud and fire led the Israelites in the desert, the Spirit of God must lead the Christian to where they are to worship God (I’m rather surprised that where I’m reading in numbers is actually applicable to this in some way…). As long as the Spirit says to stay, no matter how negative the church is, a Christian must stay. And comfort, or even the feeling of “spiritual growth” are no excuse for staying somewhere after the Spirit has called you to leave. "As long as this is the reason for leaving or staying, we’re not falling prey to disunity (which is condemned by Scripture), and we’re not allowing our mere personal preference to stand in the way of the Will of God. Of course, the problem is knowing whether the Spirit is leading us elsewhere or leading us to stay. "But, when that problem has been solved, it is important that we leave in the proper fashion. Maybe it is silence (which I think is usually the case when leaving a decent church that is sincerely trying to do the Will of God). Maybe it is a proper, loving Christian rebuke (in the spirit that Christ lays out in Matthew 18). Maybe it’s blowing trumpets about how much God has done with and for and through you with the body that you are leaving (us leaving the church I grew up in comes to mind). Maybe it’s something else that I’m not thinking of at the moment…" Sorry to disappoint, Storyteller. But worry not, the session Monday night has cause quite a stir amongst the members of the Unnamed Cabal. Theories are flying around (especially concerning "whodunnit", and, of course, the tree). Jurns-II likes to dismiss some of them offhand, but they're fun to entertain anyway. Not to mention that they make me (correction, the other three of us) really paranoid... Mia amas vin, mia amino. |
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