Today is my day off and I have been in the vegetable garden which means as I work, I think. I had some work emails to deal with early this morning and in the process went to our denominations NZ website. There was a Christmas message from the president with his thoughts about the future. In his message he says this about his dream for our churches....
Firstly, United.
Who wants to join something that is fragmented and dysfunctional at the relational level? Jesus greatest desire was that we would be one so that the world would know we are His disciples.
Secondly, Alignment.
Are we on the same page? What would our core beliefs be that those of us who are connected to CCNZ would wholeheartedly agree with (we should sit down and work that through sometime). I know we pride ourselves in the statement ‘no creed but Christ’, it does seem to be open to misinterpretation. For CCNZ what does ‘but Christ’ really mean?
I have heard the same man raise this issue before. He wants to clearly define what we believe and who believes it, and my guess is he will want us to believe the same as he does. I like our restoration movement slogan, "No creed but Christ". I like our other slogan, "In essentials Unity, in non-essentials liberty, and in all things love." I do not like people trying to define dogma. I think that it was in that process that the early church got distorted and drifted away from the way of Jesus. The "Pharisees" continue to invade the church!
I love the story about one of our founders, Alexander Campbell. In the early nineteenth century he was somewhere in Scotland as a Presbyterian minister (At least of one branch of the then very splintered presbyterian Church) and attended a communion service. To get accepted for communion you had to answer certain questions about dogma and if you answered correctly you received a little lead token which was your ticket to allow you to take communion. The woman in front of him could not answer all the questions correctly so she was turned away from taking communion, and obviously upset by this turn of events. Alexander Campbell answered correctly, received his token, but when the offering plate came around found himself placing the token in the plate and leaving the service in disgust. He was so distressed that these dogma questions kept followers of Christ away from the communion table.
I like "No Creed but Christ". It allows people who follow Christ, with a variety of interpretations as to what dogma they believe, to actually work together, discover Jesus and discover unity. One of the reasons I have stayed with our Churches is that potentially there is room for liberty. I do feel out of sorts with current trends and the president probably sees me as one who is contributing to fragmentation and dysfunction. (I don't rock the boat, just keep doing my thing as I believe it.- a sort of "live and let live" attitude.) I recall a western comedy song, I think a take off about Billy the kid. In it an imaginary psychologist asks the kid, "When did you run away from home?" Answer: "I didn't run away from home, my home ran away from me. - We lived in a covered wagon and I fell out the back". I feel like that. Churches of Christ, my "home," started me on a faith journey that included openness, love, scholarship and inclusiveness. I have continued the journey but my "home ran away from me." Somehow I feel its done a u-turn and is heading back to a superstitious, sectarian and theologically ignorant form of Christianity.
Coincidence
I have just become chairman of the local Night Shelter Trust. (I was a founding member) We learned that the house we rent was to be auctioned off today. I went along to the auction with another man from our trust. We are of course concerned because the homeless could be even more homeless. I was sitting there waiting for the auction to begin and thinking how much out of my comfort zone I was. The men gathering looked rich property investors, and my companion knew some of them. This was not my scene. Then a suited man came in and I suddenly realised I knew him. He was a friend from the time I did a social work course. We used to run together. He is now a property investor and wheeler and dealer. Way back when we were exploring the beginnings of the night shelter this man had expressed an interest in assisting. Now he was still interested and keen to have a meeting. The house was not sold. We did line up a meeting between him and a group from the Trust. As he shook my hand to leave he said, "This is no coincidence - somehow it I think it was meant to be." I suspect he may be right. So often in my life when profound work, "God's work" needs resources the right people "emerge". For example, we have never run short of money or resources for our Christmas Day dinner. I wish I trusted that more often. Watch this space. (Speaking of unity... it is not found by "sitting down and working through" beliefs. It is found in loving action together. My Night Shelter and Habitat for Humanity experience attests to this. Most of my colleagues on the Night Shelter Trust are Catholics. If we talked "beliefs" we would fight. But by following Jesus in caring action we discover an exciting essential unity in Jesus.)
A great day
I have been an unfaithful Kiwi today. I checked the scores of the Hobart cricket test match against Australia last night and I despaired. It looked like another Aussie victory. But I was wrong. The New Zealand bowlers and fielders did their thing well and we beat the Australians in Australia. (The first time this has happened in since 1993) As one email to the TV station said tonight, "Any day we beat the Australians is a great day!"
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