Month: September 2017

Leave a comment Posted on Church

What a “Church” is

A Church is often seen as a local congregation. A congregation is the local embodiment of the universal Body of Christ. As such it has certain responsibilities entrusted to it, Such as:

  • Corporate worship including the sacraments
    • Various verses indicate that the church is for worship including but not limited to
      • Colossians 3:16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly; teach and admonish one another in all wisdom; and with gratitude in your hearts sing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs to God.
      • And 1Corinthians 14:26 What should be done then, my friends? When you come together, each one has a hymn, a lesson, a revelation, a tongue, or an interpretation. Let all things be done for building up.
    • For an example of a reference to the sacraments see the section of 1st Corinthians which deals with the Lord’s Supper
      • 1Corinthians 11:26 (NRA): For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.
  • Organizing to the relief of the necessities of the brethren
    • See among other verses indicating that the church is to be a center of resource distribution
      • Acts 6:1: Now during those days, when the disciples were increasing in number, the Hellenists complained against the Hebrews because their widows were being neglected in the daily distribution of food.
  • Facilitating the discernment and efficient coordination of the gifts of the sprit to the saints
    • The gifts are given to individuals but they are to be discerned within, developed within and put at the direction of the Church
      • 1Corinthians 12:7: To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.
      • Ephesians 4:11: The gifts he gave were that some would be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers,
  • Equipping the saints for the work of ministry
    • See Ephesians 4:12: to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ,
    • Such equipping to include but not limited to mutual support and encouragement
      • See Romans 14:19: Let us then pursue what makes for peace and for mutual upbuilding.
    • And Mutual accountability and aid in discernment
      • See Ephesians 4:11: The gifts he gave were that some would be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers,
    • And Proper mechanism for education, honing gifts and organizational help in applying same
      • See 1Corinthians 2:16: “For who has known the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?” But we have the mind of Christ.
      • See also A1Corinthians 14:40: but all things should be done decently and in order.
  • Sending resources to the greater Church for doing all of the above over a greater area
    • 1 Corinthians 16:1-2: Now concerning the collection for the saints: you should follow the directions I gave to the churches of Galatia. On the first day of every week, each of you is to put aside and save whatever extra you earn, so that collections need not be taken when I come.

 

Leave a comment Posted on The Way of Harmony

God speaks to the Way of Harmony

Some cultures, such as found in certain Islamic majority countries, are explicit in the religious roots of their quest for harmony. Some like Confucius based cultures are not. Western culture has moved away from its previous more explicitly based Christian cultural foundation. In the west today we tend to forget how Christianity informs our quest for harmony.
Christianity, like most, if not all the world’s great religions, believes that God “loves” humanity. It is highly unlikely that a God who loves humans would leave them without guidance as to how to achieve peace and harmony. There has to be a mechanism for God to communicate with us. God would not leave His children alone, lost in the dark.

Christians believe that God has communicated to us in revelation: general revelation such as the world around us, particular revelation in the inspired words of the scriptures and the perfect revelation in the person of Jesus Christ.

Humans desire and seek after lives of harmony. God knows that. He reveals in scripture, Christian history, and our personal experiences with Christ, the Way of Harmony. That is God reveals to us how to live in harmony with each other, the universe and everything. God not only reveals to us what that would look like, but also suggests pathways to achieve harmony. God reveals to us different things we can do to achieve a life of harmony.

The Trinity

It should come as no surprise that Christianity is concerned with harmony. At the heart of the Christian tradition is of course the Trinitarian concept of God. Christians understand God as one being in three persons. This is called a mystery because it is impossible for us to fully understand how this works.

What are the implications of the Trinity for the quest for harmony? The Christian faith teaches that even before time was created God was Father, Son and Holy Spirit. A preexisting and eternal loving, relational harmony.

The Trinity was and is three persons in one being, living and loving in perfect harmony from before all time and for all time. What then is the implication that God the creator of the universe was and is forever and all time a harmony? What are the implications of the Christian teaching that humans are made in the image and likeness of God?

What does it mean that we have been made in the image and likeness of a being which is a harmony?

Genesis as expansive harmony

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.  The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. And God saw that the light was good. (Genesis 1:1-4, ESV)
Then god continued to create, periodically stopping along the way to see that “it was good”. Towards the end of the 6th day God created Humanity.

After God had created the universe,  And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day. (Genesisn1:31, ESV)
Note that when God surveyed all that He had made He said it was very good. God was talking not only about the parts of creation but the way they all worked together, in harmony.

At the first God created a garden. Humans to tend the garden. Plants and fruit for humans to eat. And it was very good. We have a picture of a beautiful place where man and woman lived in harmony with the earth. With humans taking care of the needs of the earth and the earth taking care of the needs of the humans. God was there to walk with and talk with and enjoy the company of the humans. All was in harmony. Humans with each other, with nature, and with God.

Of course something went wrong. What was created to exist in sustained harmony went horribly wrong. Now the relationships of men and women are not harmonious, not right. The relationships among humans, among nations are not right. There is greed, selfishness, power abuse and oppression. We are cut off and at odds with God and His original plan for us to live beautiful, peaceful, harmonious lives. Even nature seems broken.

Leave a comment Posted on Culture

The importance of neutral ground.

Recently there has been a great deal of angst over the politicization of American life. By that I mean the injection of politics into areas of our lives that it had not been in before. Two examples come to mind are. First, politicians telling their supporters to turn Thanksgiving dinner into an opportunity to challenge family members who did not hold the “correct” views of certain cultural/political issues. Second, the introduction of cultural/political protests at professional football games.

There are many reasons to be disturbed by these events. Perhaps the greatest concern I have is that neutral ground is disappearing. I am going to define neutral ground, in this context, to be areas of our lives that allow us to spend time with people who hold views different from ours, without feeling tension or fighting.

It used to be that committed republicans and committed democrats could come together and watch a football game. Or they could come together to share a holiday meal. Their disagreements, some vehemently held, were put aside for a few minutes or hours. The great benefit of this time on neutral ground was that it allowed friendships and relationships to flourish across the political/cultural divide. The republican could see the democrat as a decent human being who he or she disagreed with on certain matters. That allowed the two sides to engage in civil disagreement.

Now the available areas of neutral ground are disappearing. Everything is being made political. The ability to see, those who disagree with us, as a person worthy of dignity and respect is slipping out our national grasp.

It is understandable that those who wish to win the cultural/political battles of today might be willing to use any means necessary. The unintended consequence of this tactic is the coarsening of public discourse. When we don’t see our rivals as worthy of dignity they easily become our enemies.

The proponents of turning holiday meals and entertainment into conflict, may win the battle only to find that they have destroyed the very civil society they sought to save.

The old saying, not to talk politics or religion at the dinner table had a certain sense to it. By creating and sustaining neutral ground bonds of affections can grow up over and above our disagreements.