Tuesday, January 3, 2017

WEEKLY COMMENTARY: Is Central Church Merely A Voluntary Religious Association Of Like-Minded Individuals?



When I was in high school, my parents encouraged me to participate in a local Presbyterian church.  This particular church was where my mother had grown up, and her parents had been long-time, active members, as well.

My father had grown up in New York City, and had become a member of an Episcopal church there.  But, upon marrying my mother and moving to Rochester, he willingly attended my mother's Presbyterian church.

In my sophomore year, soon after a new minister was installed, the peaceful tempo of the Rochester church was upset within the congregation.  Within a few months, the new pastor had begun revealing some of his ideas for the future direction of this tradition-bound church. He seemed determined to transform us into an outward-looking church actively seeking social justice.

It started with grumbling and whispered talk in the church parking lot, after worship. Before long, there was open discussion, and some Elders were protesting our new church direction at meetings of the Session.  Increasingly, the congregation was divided into two opposing sides.

Meanwhile, at home, I found that my parents were not in agreement on the "social justice" direction sought by the new pastor.  My mom and her parents liked things the way they were.  My father was more in sympathy with the direction the new pastor wanted the church to take.  I would hear them debating the issue as they washed up the dishes after dinner.

My mother and many of her friends who had grown up in this church, were firmly set on emphasizing evangelism, not social justice.  They were active in Bible study and could quote Scripture for almost any occasion.  Mom insisted that this was how she kept on a straight path ---- by regularly reinforcing her Christian values through repeated reading and appreciation of Scripture.

My father, on the other hand, had come from a different style of religion, and from the more worldly environment of New York City.  He was very aware of the disparities in society, and wanted to do something about them.  He became a supporter of the new pastor's initiatives.

As time passed, each side in this "debate" became more and more convinced they had the right answer.  There was little interest in compromise, and soon members of the traditional/evangelical faction, began to leave the church.

I think about this now, years later, and wish I could go back and change a few things for them.  But, that church situation was not unique.  Arguably more blood has been spilled and more hearts broken around church schisms than any other issue in the history of the Presbyterian Church.

The biblical understanding of the church as "the body of Christ" was as revolutionary 2000 years ago as it is today.  Imagine how some of the original Disciples must have rolled their eyes when Jesus introduced Simon the Zealot and Levi the tax collector into their fellowship.  Zealots were Jewish resistance fighters sworn to overthrow the occupying Roman army.  Tax collectors were not the same as the county officials we know today ----  they were collaborators with the Roman imperial occupation who sold out their people for a cut of the tax revenues.

But notice this ---- It was not the Disciples choosing to affiliate with one another. They were all chosen by Jesus.  Only Christ, only the call of Christ, brought these people together as Disciples.  Jesus' free claim on them was what they had in common.

Paul's Scriptural message shows this insight ----- that hands and feet don't join a body because they see the world the same way.  Ribs do not affiliate with ears because they share similar beliefs.  Organs of the body are formed and knitted together by the creative love of God.  What God hath joined together, let no one break apart.

When the Apostle Paul speaks of the church as "the body of Christ," he reminds us of a far more basic reality than the narrow interests of affiliation groups and our endless debates about whose values and beliefs are better or more pious.  Our unity does not lie in our points of member agreement, but alone in our belief in Jesus Christ.  We are united, not because we have found a secret to consensus, but because Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit unites us in and through and to Himself.

When a condition of "schism" occurs in the congregation of a church, or they split into "groups" because people want to bond with folks sharing identical values, it fosters a kind of self-righteousness that runs counter to the spirit Christ seeks.

Our unity as a church is not based on conditional contracts that hold only so long as we agree with one another, but on the basis of our covenant with God sealed in Christ.  Our church unity is the act of God, not of ourselves.

C. S. Lewis once observed that "the church is that body in which all members, however different, must share the common life, complimenting and helping one another precisely through  their differences."

So, is CPC merely a voluntary religious association of like-minded individuals? Would it not be more accurate to say that our church is not a movement or a mood or a direction, but the balance of many movements and moods.  Thus, the members of our church seek and accept an arbitration ultimately which strikes a balance focused on our Heavenly Father, and not upon ourselves.
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These thoughts are brought to you by CPC's Adult Spiritual Development Team, hoping to encourage you to pursue some personal spiritual growth this winter at  CPC.
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