Tuesday, October 20, 2009

Unity

I pledge allegiance
to an invisible
indivisible
Church.

Sometimes I wish that my whole church would read Blue Like Jazz, about loving people, about war metaphor. Sometimes I wish I had been able to see Katie's speech about tolerance, I think I would have liked it. Sometimes I wish that my pastor and the people in my church realized that... no matter how much love may look like tolerance, we are called to love.

"They wouldn't clarify that we were battling poverty and hate and injustice and pride and the powers of darkness. They left us thinking that our war was against liberals and homosexuals. Their teaching would have me believe that I was the good person in the world and the liberals were the bad people in the world. Jesus taught that we are all bad and He is good."
~Don Miller, Blue Like Jazz

My church is fighting the wrong enemy. My church stands against liberals and gays and democrats, and I don't think it loves them very much. But, I think, even worse than that, my church finds enemies in other churches. My church, at least, the vocal part of it, is very anti-catholic. But how can we, the Church, the family of believers, fight poverty and hate and injustice and pride and the powers of darkness if we've broken up into millions of different groups at war with each other?

I look at all the splintered factions of Christianity. At the Catholics and the Protestants, the Baptists and the Pentecostals, the Anglicans and the Lutherans, the Eastern Orthodox and the Methodists. We've split, and split again, until now we even have "home churches", we've split apart until we have come down to the family unit, that may even break down into the individual. How could this have happened?

I don't like the term "church planting." I'm sure those who use it don't really think about what it means, or don't think that it's important enough to change the term, and it probably isn't. But... there is one Church. We aren't pieces, scattered, seeds to be sown, we are one. The Church isn't the building we meet in, but it isn't even the congregation that meets there... it's the sum of all believers in Christ. And... you can't plant that, because it's already been planted. He is the vine, we are the branches.

I don't know how this could happen. But the solution is given us. We're supposed to be unified, in love. And to do that we must love.

7 comments:

  1. *sigh* no one needs help in finding ways to dislike each other, do they? But we all need help knowing how to love each other. And why do people in the same church all have to agree? Where is that written!? *sigh* (the code I had to enter was "methoboo" maybe a new denomination?)

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  2. To be unified we have to take the good with the bad.

    Even when the people at our churches are jerks.
    Even when the pastors and elders mess up.
    Even when the church is thinking about x key doctrine all wrong.

    The disunity in the church has a whole starts with the disunity of an individual.

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  3. "The disunity in the church as a whole starts with the disunity of an individual."

    And this is precicely my struggle, making sure that I can love the unlovely and the unloving. This is convicting.

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  4. YES. And also, not quite. I don't want to argue with you, or argue for disunity. So much of this I agree with! "The Church isn't the building we meet in, but it isn't even the congregation that meets there...it's the sum of all believers in Christ." Yes. But then, Paul addressed letters to specific churches as well. A church could also just be a group of believers in a city.

    "now we even have "home churches", we've split apart until we have come down to the family unit, that may even break down to the individual. How could this have happened?" That sounds terrible, but... that's not what home church is about! The point of meeting at home is not to have an individualistic church gathering. The intent is to worship God in authentic community, as a family of God, and without one man elevated above all the rest as the only teacher. Not that "traditional" church can't have that, but please don't criticize home churches so sweepingly.

    What does it mean to speak the truth in love? Sometimes love dictates that we don't say anything, and overlook disagreements... but doesn't truth need to be said, too? What about this comment, am I just fostering a spirit of disagreement? Love isn't blind agreement. Truth isn't hasty and divisive accuracy. But how can we have them both at the same time?

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  5. Hm, "church" attitudes tend to be one of two extremes: blind agreement as "acceptance", and blind agreement as "hatred". And love is somewhere in between... in between and also above.

    I'm struggling to find the line love draws, to know when and how to speak the truth in love. It's hard for me to tell when I'm speaking the truth or if I'm just being arrogant, showing my "spirituality" off.

    "The disunity in the church as a whole starts with the disunity of an individual"

    Totally. Maybe we take too much personally. Maybe we don't take enough personally. We need to examine our own hearts.

    Yeah, we missed the "loving the unlovely" part... we need to go back and find that.

    Lord, have mercy on us.

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  7. Satan tried persecution. But he gave up on that. So now he is trying to split the church into as many different and diverse forms of "truth" as possible - he's quite successful to.

    :-/

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