Psalm 133:1
Behold, how good and how pleasant it is
for brethren to dwell together in unity!
Unity is usually defined as agreement and harmony in the pursuit of a common life and goals. However, there are times when we can only have a measure of unity. I call it unity of spirit. Deeply held convictions may keep us apart but we can be united to go separate ways without rancor in most working relationships.
Christians are generally united on one irrefutable thing. One day we will stand before God as our judge. In that day we will all agree we need his forgiveness. We will all share a common vision and we will all be granted sight that will expose our poverty of understanding. Therefore, it is often better not to wrangle too much and to humble our selves a lot. Let us not add more injury than we can help to our sins of ignorance and ineptitude.
Déjà Vous
Jan and I have encountered the situation I am describing below three times in our lives. Two of those times were intensely personal and painful. Those times taught us more about God’s faithfulness and the love of fellow believers than anything we could have imagined. We have learned that it is precisely when we abandon ourselves to follow our consciences that our faith is enlarged. I remember the words of my dear friend, Costa Dier, “There is no risk in obeying God.”
Moving On
June 26, 2011
The service at church began as usual today until large numbers began to drift in and fill seats not otherwise occupied except for Easter. As the prelude began the acolyte, a solemn lad, began to come down the isle holding the candle lighter in front like a medieval fighter probing a dragons den. The anxiety on his face was probably indicative of his fear the light would go out. I thought the image was apropos.
Then we began to sing. Later we heard a sermon from our pastor on being a “peculiar people.” “That we are,” we nodded as some of us flipped to our Bibles to 1 Peter 2: 4-12. This word “peculiar” is used in the King James Version. In more modern translations it is translated as “a people belonging to God.”[1]
When our worship service ended this morning it was followed by a congregational business meeting. The question before us was singular. We simply voted ourselves out of the Presbyterian Church USA.[2] The service was long but peaceable and uneventful. We were finally coming to the end of a few years of resource consuming and intense agonizing.
The controversy our fellowship has with the denomination is over matters of scriptural interpretation. The national church believes it is keeping the “spirit” of Christ and free to interpret the Bible freely even in points where the scriptures are very specific. This has historically been a heretical doctrine. It is one which our congregation cannot embrace. We believe Jesus represents simultaneously both Spirit and Truth.[3] This essentially means we must take a position on those areas which are being forsaken by the national church where the scriptures are very specific. Love dictates that we depart in peace. Love and respect also dictate that those who disagree recognize that our mutual matters of conscience are irreconcilable.
Compromise
Compromise is a big principle in modern culture. In general, I generally favor trying to find the middle road. However, that can only be done when people agree on the essential principles. We have no potential of compromising when we stand on fundamentally different premises. That is when love always compels us to take a stand on those things which we believe endangers others.
I am grateful that our local church has found its way. I am grateful for those of our former denomination who, though they feel we are being rigid, are honoring our desire to depart peaceably. I am grateful to be among a congregation of people who took a position without rancor and are willing to pay the price for doing so.[4]
Our failure to end our partnership with the National Presbyterian Church USAis not a failure of love. Trustingly, all of us usually believe we are sincerely acting in love. No – this break of fellowship is the failure of one party or the other to grasp the truth. Which of us stands on truth? Respectfully, each party believes it stands on the truth. However, that alone does not make either party innocent of spiritual failure. There is a higher judge involved here.
The condition which we of the church share is clear to us. We must now cast ourselves upon God as we know Him. He will judge between us. This is not trivial thing. Yet, frankly, it is one which every believer faces every day of their lives as they determine how they will live as followers of Christ.
Christians are not justified by keeping rules and commandments. They are not justified by how perfectly they live by and understand doctrines. They do not even justify themselves by putting up the best argument. They simply live by faith in the leadership and grace of Christ. Whether our faith is well placed or misplaced makes all the difference on how we live now. It also determines the capacity we will build for life in the Life to come. The verity of our faith, you see, determines the capacity we have for the enjoyment of God forever.
***
“Reason is itself a matter of faith. It is an act of faith to assert that our thoughts have any relation to reality at all.” G.K. Chesterton Orthodoxy, Chapter III: The Suicide of Thought, 1909
“My anger protected me only for a short time; anger wearies itself out and truth comes in.” C.S. Lewis, Until We have Faces
“There ain’t no use to get angry all the time; everthin’ will come out right in the end. What end? That is the question.” Benedict Burdane, The Croc that Ate My Crocs, TIC Publishers[5]
The Church
The fox drove us in here
where thorns tear our fur
and tender skin.
There is safety here and
warm whorls of grass -
nesting places.
We are rabbits,
eyes timorous, quieted
among sharp edges
where safety emulates fangs
minus the gullet.
We are settled with others driven
to an imperfect haven,
but home.
In here all naked creatures
wait out the winter,
defy the brush beatings of
those would draw our blood
for sport or food.
This is our peace -
proposing harmony.
Holy Fog
Ah! Holy Spirit,
luminous fog
shrouding my path
and enfolding me.
I hurl myself headlong
into the viscous circle of sight;
absorbed by your embrace
as I meet each milepost -
a standard drilled by your love
for us.
Come Bright Dove!
Ah, bright Star of Morning -
shining dove sheathed in feathers of light-
swing,
swoop,
sweep down on our Valley.
Beat your wings over us. Send silvered fall-out:
redemption,
renewal,
restoration.
Leave feather kisses.
Already, we hear the whomp,
the whoosh,
the sound of many waters
and bathe in the shower of shimmering rains.
We reach for fuller’s soap,
exult in suds,
and song,
and O, so, so, so much so(u)l shine.
We watch you hover there
(in ever luminescent Eastern sky)
doing your wing-wobble dance.
We see you surveying with hawkish eye
for outreached hand and
a single crumb of confidence.
I note that a well known, vocal, but here unnamed, atheist is railing that the government is not fulfilling his expectations. He had that same expectations of his Creator and rejected him. Why should he not reject his present god? Considering that he is in a rejecting mood, and a contrarian to boot, there is probably no new god which will meet his expectation.
When the knowledge of God fails, or people reject God entirely, they will go to other things to replace him. They often appear to develop other dependencies without realizing it: self-help regimens; systems and associations of power and control; or governmental structures. In the end such systems and governments always become increasingly controlling. As a result individual freedom of choice is eroded away.
The Christian faith is often seen as controlling. It does call us to higher standards but those standards require consent of the heart and not lock step which cults often encourage. The truth is that Christ Jesus broke up Pharisaic control, one of the dominating of religious systems of his day, and became a threat to Caesar, one of the greatest tyrants of his day. Where he is not revered we will find external restriction and enforced motivation. Whenever Christ’s Spirit is truly present there is liberty. After all, he created us in the image of God to be like Him: creative; exercising free choice; and embracing His life and way for the pure joy and love of it.
***
Resurrection
Rain rhythms
beat upon the tin roof -
that great cloud of witnesses
falling one by one to merge
and flow ocean-ward for
that great sleep.
Soon there will be resurrection -
invisible – sheets of mist
will rise to gather again in the clouds -
in the sky -
until the thundering trumpet
breaks the great languid Spring Day
and we all wake together
to careen, to shine in the light
and make rainbows
in the prisms of our tears.
[1] The peculiarity is properly ascribed because Christian believers should be distinctive from general society in its values and goals. Another term used to describe this distinctiveness Biblically is “holy.” It means, among other things, “wholly other” or just plain “radically different.”
[2] The vote was 94% percent of the members present. A total of 72% of active membership were present after every effort had been made to assure the largest number possible.
[3] “For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.” John 1:17
[4] We will learn whether or not we are released by the Presbytery of area churches on July 23. That release will mean we will maintain our property which we hold in trust for the denomination. It will also determine when we will unite with the Evangelical Presbyterian Church. We do not intend to be independent. We merely want to practice our faith as we have for the last 500 years.
[5] TIC publishers is a tongue in cheek reference and is entirely fabricated because the editor has a drenched sense of humor from too many baths in tepid water. See! You should read footnotes.
