In chapel yesterday and today (which was again awesome!) we (the new students) were repeatedly told that we are no longer considered guests, but friends who are part of the Asbury community and even hosts in community. Although that is the reality anytime anyone moves to a community, (especially a new academic institution) it is seldom acted out or even said. Often "freshmen" or incoming students are unintentionally (or possibly intentionally) alienated until they prove themselves worthy to be a functioning part of the community. I found this exhortation to be incredibly touching. The request that a few of the new students serve as communion stewards for the first community Eucharist celebration to be held when the returning students arrive was also very moving, it truly shows to me that we are functioning members of the community, we are part of the formation that goes on in this place. We are truly no longer guests but comprise an essential part of the community. What an awesome revelation!
However awesome that revelation may be, the true epiphany connected with this happened later in the day (actually later than the second thing I will write about, but while we're here I might as well discuss this).
The epiphany is this: It is a shame that we in the church do not take this same stance. When a new people come to faith, we make them prove themselves before we really welcome them into the community. We make them prove that they are good enough, clean enough, respected enough in the world, rich enough or any number of other things before we accept them as hosts in the story that we live in. I'm not saying that we don't need to make sure our ministers are trained and godly before we thrust them in ministry (the church has always done that) but to make people prove themselves before we allow them to enter into the Church (in the purest sense of the word) is ridiculous and down right sinful! There should not be this trial period where we place the world's values of acceptance over Christ's values. Christ's values of acceptance should be the only values the Church holds. We need to stop living with this prideful, sinful, filthy, judgmental way of thinking and accept new converts as "one of us." Yes they may struggle, yes they have learning to do, but so do we all, including the ministers and the elder members of our churches. We need to stop requiring people to be "good enough" before they are part of us. If you think about it honestly, not a single freaking one of us is good enough. It is by grace and grace alone that we have been saved. Yes we are part of the kingdom and we should and better act like it, but placing these ungodly value systems on people before we accept them is not acting like who we are called to be.
The second thought from today occurred during an orientation session with Dr. Joel Green. He started his session by reading 1 Peter 1:1-2, which reads:
Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to the exiles of the Dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia, who have been chosen and destined by God the Father and sanctified by the Spirit to be obedient to Jesus Christ and to be sprinkled with his blood: May grace and peace be yours in abundance. (NRSV)
Dr. Green briefly exegeted this passage, mainly verse 1, stating that there was a fundamental translation error in the NRSV. He stated that it should not be read as being written to those who are part of the "exiles of the dispersion", rather it should be read as to who Peter wrote it. You see, according to Dr. Green, those were the recipeients of the letter, but Peter was chiefly writing to the WHOLE Church, including us. We know this because, 1) one of the places in the geography list didn't even exist, and 2) it is not "exiles in the dispersion...Who are chosen" but rather a unique word that is hard to translate in English because it is two words mushed together meaning "the marginalized (exiled) chosen ones." Peter isn't saying: "I'm writing to so and so," on the contrary he is writing to all Christians because by our very nature WE ARE THE MARGINALIZED CHOSEN ONES. That is our identity, that is who we are! So often we want to remember that we are chosen, but along with our chosen-ness we have to rememer that we are by nature marginalized, exiled, and dispersed from the world. We don't belong here. We don't live by the worlds standards because we are different, our identity has changed, we are no longer the "Simons" of the world, we are now the "Peters" upon whom Christ shall build his church (Mark 8).
We are forever a blood covered people, a people who don't belong. We do live as aliens because the nature of our salvation takes us out of the world and into Christ. This is our sanctification, this is our calling, this is our life and our identity. We are the Community of faith that stretches back to the Apostles, the Prophets, to Abraham, Issac, and Jacob. We are hosts in this community, and yet visitors and marginalized from the world. We live as aliens who don't belong and who should be set apart for holiness. The question is, why don't we act like it? That is the apostolic exhortation that we find throughout scripture: "You're a sanctified people, you are in Christ, now start acting like it!" Paul, Peter, John, not to mention Jesus, they all call us to live beyond ourselves, to die to who we are so that we would be truly sanctified, and act like the true people of God.
I fear the problem is that the church has forgotten this. A large majority of the church has forgotten that we don't belong. We've set ungodly social standards and require others to fit those molds, we neglect those who are marginalized by society because we aren't. I am very scared that many "Christians" will hear Jesus say those most dreaded words: "depart from me for I never knew you." Maybe you think that I am going too far? Maybe my standard is to harsh? I don't believe so. Yes, I don't live up to it yet, but I'm striving. We must be holy! Holiness for the people of God is not merely personal holiness, but also social holiness. If you don't think I'm speaking truth then read the words of the prophets and the words of Jesus. Holiness is always a personal and corporate entity. Just as we cannot neglect personal holiness (as some of our liberal friends have) we cannot ignore social holiness (as most of conservative "Christianity" has). John Wesley recognized this when he said something to the affect of "there is no salvation without social holiness."
Western Christianity needs to put down weak and unformational books like the Purpose Driven Life, the Prayer of Jabez, Your Best Life Now, Left Behind and many others and pick up the freaking Bible! True biblical Christianity is dying in the west. Our churches do not teach the FULL Gospel of Jesus Christ. We neglect the poor, the needy, and the downtrodden and justify living in our plush American homes. We even neglect personal holiness, we neglect teaching about true love, we neglect teaching about obedience to the cross, dying to self and being willing to die at any minute. Bigger churches keep getting bigger, not because we are seeing multitudes lead to the Lord as in the book of Acts, but because they teach a weak gospel. They teach a gospel that looks nothing like the gospel of Jesus Christ. Their gospel is one that is easy to follow, it allows minimal sacrifice and no discomfort at all, except getting up to go to 1 hour of "church as week."
Churches like Lakewood with John Osteen, Saddelback with Rich Warren, Willow Creek with Bill Hybels and Eastern Hills Wesleyan with Karl Eastlack are not churches, they are not part of Christianity, no they are a cult! They teach a false teaching that is destroying the gospel of Christ. People are not being brought into the Kingdom of God, the very thing that Jesus spent most of his ministry teaching about, no, they are being brought into that church and that church alone, that is a sign of a cult.
Don't for a second think that I'm just against big churches, although I do have that bias, little churches too have just as many problems and propagate false teaching. But some and I think many small churches are small because they are faithful to the teachings of Jesus. The true teachings of Jesus are hard, they are foolishness to the world and contrary to everything our culture stands for. We must grab ahold of Jesus teachings and not let go. We must remember that we are by nature a marginalized people, we don't fit in with the world and to allow the world to set our lines for success is wrong and sinful.
I know that most of you who will read this feel the same way as I do, and for that I apologize for my soapbox, but I am so sick of complacent western "Christianity" I feel like I could scream. For those of you who may read this and don't agree with me and feel I've gone to far by naming names, books, and churches among other things; I say that I'm sorry if I've offended you , but I feel that I've spoken truth. Maybe I should have been easier on some of the churches, but I wasn't.
My prayer for all of you this day is that you may live as hosts in the community of God, serving and loving his people. That you would love the marginalized by the world, and remember that you are marginalized by the world because of the cross you carry. Peace be with you as you carry that cross, may the weight of it continue to spur you on toward holiness both personal and social. Remember only the holy are truly happy.
Blessings my friends!
1 comment:
I've noticed a little bit, from being in my home church, that I'm not sure the problem is that we don't pick up the Bible. The Protestant church tends to be fairly good at making sure everyone reads their Bible X times per day and all, and memorizing the order of the books and stuff is fairly common.
Yet, I wonder what the point of reading a book is if we've already determined in advance what it says. Maybe that's our problem- quantity of bible over quality of reading.
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