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Finding a Straight Board |
Finding a Straight Board |
Back in the late seventies an aged and veteran pastor made a statement that's stuck in my memory all these years. He said, "The best way to prove that a board is warped and bent is to lay a straight board down beside it." Similarly, Saint Francis said, "Preach always. If necessary use words." There is a tremendous temptation these days to rail and lambaste warped and bent models, whether men or established hierarchies, that have found a place under the Holy Umbrella that we call the Christian Church. Centuries of reformations and revivals, while focusing on individual tenets and doctrines, have given birth to numerous systems of expression espoused by some and rejected by others. The modern expressions of the independent arena, and of their loosely knit associations, further subdivide an already sadly and badly divided Church, a body declared in Sacred Scripture to be of "one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all." (Eph. 4:5). How have we ventured so far from the Divine Ideal that the Lord Jesus prayed for in the Gospel of John? "I ask not only on behalf of these (Christ's disciples living with Him in the first century), but also on behalf of those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one." (John 17:20-21). In our world, filled with fundamental, ecumenical, evangelical, catholic, charismatic, and a vast host of other schools of thought, it's extremely difficult to envision the Church in the oneness prayed for by Christ and spoken of by the Apostle Paul. One of the dilemmas that we are faced with is our need to find models and mentors who stand as examples of the genuine Gospel and the practices of faith given to us by the Lord Jesus and exemplified in the lives of His followers in those early centuries following His ministry. This dilemma is becoming more largely amplified within the cultural setting of Post-Christian America where, much like the reform of Constantine in the third century, Christianity is being culturalized to fit within the norms and expectations of present society. Yet, we do have this need and our search for its fulfillment often leads us to people and places that leave us disappointed and distrustful. Quite often our search can lead us into areas where we become entangled in heresy and suffer spiritual abuse from leaders and others whose glamourous lives and ministries center upon themselves rather than upon sacrificial servant roles. Thus, with this in our repertoire of experience, we can easily withdraw from organized expressions of the Church and find ourselves attempting to maintain our faith in a very real personal wilderness. More often than not, the lack of fellowship found in community and the isolation that we invoke upon ourselves, brings with it an exacting toll. It's obvious that Christianity is undergoing multiple crises. Sexual abuse issues involving priests and children have rocked the church. Charismatic leaders have bilked millions of dollars out of sincere, although naive, followers and justify their own luxurious lifestyles in the name of Christ. Makeup, wigs, jewels, and expensive clothes adorn the bodies of those who occupy center stage of the worlds largest Christian network presenting a glamorized and commercial image of Christianity. The Church in America spends an estimated 95% of it's offering income on salaries and programs to maintain a comfortable existence for itself while great numbers of people, both here at home and abroad, go to sleep at night hungry. Sacred Truth, Sacred Tradition, and those who have given their lives to the One who is the center of all Sacred Truth and Tradition are fast losing popularity in a global society that is rapidly rejecting the knowledge of God and ridiculing those who hold it precious. In part, this rejection is due to the climate of the season that we occupy. Sacred Scripture is never wrong and, as the prophecies of old that informed us of the coming of Christ at His First Advent were fulfilled, there have also been given indicators in Sacred Scripture concerning the spiritual climate during the closing period of the Church Age before the return of Christ when the Consummation of the Kingdom of God on the earth will occur. At the same time, part of this rejection comes as a result of the Church failing to present a unified image to the world and is often seen as a seething pot of irreconcilable denominational division and strife. In the face of the multiple crises encountered by the Church, and in light of our knowledge of the teachings of Sacred Scripture, what are we to do as believers who are sincere in living the simplicity of the Gospel in a world that seems to have closed its heart towards God's Offering? How do we begin to reconcile the doctrinal differences that divide the Church? These are serious questions that need to be addressed by every Christian believer regardless of their theological or denominational bent. I suggest three areas to address as a beginning place for all of us. 1. Realize and repent of our own part in fracturing and dividing the Church. All of us are likely, in one degree or another, to share in the fault when it comes to the issue of fracture and division. When we make statements such as, "I don't believe like that." or "Our church is against what that church teaches.", or any like statement, we participate in the fracturing and dividing process. More often than not, our statement is based on a selfish bias that we've acquired through indoctrination in our particular denominational or nondenominational system of belief. The truth of the matter is that all of the major expressions of Christianity share more in common concerning the major (and most important) Biblical doctrines than otherwise and, where there are doctrinal differences, a spirit of love that includes acceptance and patience goes a long way in bridging differences that would otherwise continue the fracturing process. I use very real and personal example as an illustration of this that arose while pastoring a church in Canada a number of years ago. The local ministerial association represented all of the churches in the town and surrounding countryside. The ministers shared the responsibilities of providing services at the nursing homes and hospital as well as writing a column for the local paper. Several times a year we participated in unity services that were a genuine blessing in the community. There was one major hitch where I was concerned. The majority of the church that I pastored refused to attend the unity services. Their excuse for not attending? "Why Pastor, we don't believe in their doctrines and can't go to a church where they teach those things." The big riff was over their disagreement with dispensational teachings concerning the rapture theory. Sadly, this view, one that carries itself into several areas of practice and opinion, is all too prevalent in the greater Church world where, for some strange reason, our personal identity with the Lord has become focused upon the name of our denominational or nondenominational theology or the name on our church sign. This is a grievous sin and one that needs to be repented of. 2. Revive and return to a mode more expressive of the formative years of the Church. The early Church had its share of problems. Even the Apostles appointed by Christ found themselves conferring in order to arrive at workable solutions to differences of opinions. The Apostle Paul's first letter to the Corinthian church is filled with corrective counseling regarding issues that had begun to divide the church. But the formative centuries of the life of the Church, and the counsels held during those first few centuries, defined the Church and established what all of us should incorporate as creedal in our belief system. The simplicity of the Gospel is no more beautifully expressed than in the early creeds formulated by the counsels of the Church Fathers. Simplicity does not imply illiteracy. The framers of what we could call our Christian Declarations of Independence were far from illiterate. These were holy men consumed with a passion for Christ who gave themselves without reservation to serving Him. Their works, in the face of extreme sacrifice and often martyrdom, brought multitudes to the saving knowledge of Christ and yielded a Church that triumphed over all the pain and persecution of the first centuries. Our effectiveness in our own age will be greatly amplified if we focus on the essentials of the faith declared in these creedal statements. Reviving and returning to the unity expressed in the Apostle's Creed (I Believe), and in its expanded version known as the Nicene Creed (We Believe), itself lays the foundation upon which the totality of the Church can live in harmony. This harmony, while refusing to allow differences of opinion to create walls of separation, creates an energetic and friendly arena devoid of hostility that encourages healthy interpersonal communion and dialog where cold and dark denominational doctrinal differences fade in the warmth and light of the all encompassing glow found in the Centrality of Christ. |
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The Apostle's Creed I believe in God, the Father Almighty, creator of heaven and earth. I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried; he descended to the dead. On the third day he rose again, he ascended into heaven, is seated at the right hand of the Father, and will come again to judge the living and the dead. I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy catholic* church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body and the life everlasting. Amen. *Catholic, as used here, means "universal" and is not a direct reference to Roman Catholicism. |
It's easy to see that, within the context and framework of these two creeds, there's ample room for both individuality and commonality, both of which are fundamentally essential for the catholic Church revealed through its local expressions. Restoring these creeds to practice, rather than giving mere lip service to them, and finding models for our own lives of Christian experience in the lives and testimonies of those who labored diligently for the unity of the Christian faith is both liberating and exhilarating. 3. Renew our faith in Christ and reach out to those who are receptive. While the world will ever remain the greater mission field, and one that is becoming increasingly more difficult to reach with the only Gospel that insures safe passage into eternity, our own personal inner mission field, and that which lies within the parameter scribed and represented by those who have already believed the Gospel, presents another monumental difficulty that challenges our own personal comfort zones. It's not enough to sit back, diagnose, and decry the ills of the world, or those of the Church, without being willing to become agents of change. Established hierarchies are difficult, and often seemingly impossible, to change. Decrying their off centeredness usually avails little and, for the most part, exhausts the energies of those whose intentions and efforts are honorable leaving them scarred and branded as troublous souls bent on creating problems. The exceptions and greatest proofs of this, particularly in the Church, are the number of denominations that began when movements arose around the activities of earnest and honest men, though maligned by their peers, who labored against perceived error and for the simplicity of the Gospel. Where does change begin in the world that I live in if it doesn't begin in me first? Unless I change, my own world will not be effected and my own refusal to change will, in essence, sign the consignment order that allows my world to remain confined within its own prison of selfishness and prejudice. Therefore, personal renewal, personal faith, becomes the primary initiative and mandate where growing in daily grace, as opposed to living under the broader umbrella of grace, receives the precedence due it. Christ, as "First Love" cultivating Christlikeness, establishes this precedence and initiates the focal point from which all else is viewed. Holy zealousness has been the downfall of numerous well intentioned and good hearted souls who have tried to bring change to religious environments. Zeal, too, has caused many to become disastrously involved with groups being led by charismatic leaders with dynamic personalities but lacking in sound theology. Our issue, though a passionate one, is not about zealousness that leads us astray or forming another denomination. It is about serving quietly and simply as agents of change within environments that are hostile to change and tend to focus more often on divisional rather than unifying issues. Enlightenment has resident within it the need to communicate. We want to share with others what we've discovered and find that not all others are ready to receive the same enlightenment that we've experienced as a gift from God. We encounter the narrow walls created by the darkness of prejudice and preference, and there is no greater darkness than the prejudice and preference of religion, and wonder if there is any value in expending our energies while coincidentally encountering a pervading sense of isolation that tends to complicate an already complicated situation. It would be simpler, like the Desert Fathers, to withdraw to a hermitage in a desolate place. Yet our need, and more precisely the constraint placed upon us by "First Love", compels us to remain involved where we seek opportunities to bring and to be light. Where zealousness causes us to become offended by the coldness and rejection of others, maturity moves us to refuse to take possession of gifts which we cannot tangibly possess as our own. Enlightenment is such a gift. Though we possess it in our hearts and minds, we can never contain and own it as our own. It belongs to One greater than ourselves who has shared a portion of His Infinite Self with us who, in spite of our enlightenment, remain finite. Jumping on the bandwagon to condemn all that we see wrong in the world, to pass judgement on those believers who are walking in error and leading others astray, will accomplish about as much as cursing the darkness because it is dark. The only fruitful way to dispel darkness is to bring light into it. Our task is to be light as a reflection of The One True Light. It is a wise person who chooses as their human examples those whose lives more closely mirror and reflect the life of Him who is the True Light. In our search for Truth, and those persons who more perfectly model and emulate the One who is the Truth, as we ourselves grow in grace while struggling with our own issues of life, it's all to easy to criticize rather than analyze. Herein lies a crucial issue and one that needs not to be avoided or minimized. All of us are fallible creatures and, as such, are susceptible to errors and mistakes. Before readying our tongues to brandish another soul, it would be wise to remember the words of Jesus when the woman caught in adultery was brought before him. He said, "You who is without sin cast the first stone." If we are to avoid becoming modern day Pharisees, it is imperative to remember that our own personal sin makes us an equal to every other human being. It has often been said that "the ground is level at the foot of the Cross". Ultimately, it is not another that we must give account for when we eventually arrive at the Final Judgement. It is our own self who will stand before the Lord to give account for what we have done. And He alone will have the final say. |
© David Kralik Ministries, Inc. 2003 Email: matthewfivesix@hotmail.com |